
Ca 



t^- % 



SELECTIONS 



VBOM THE 



LETTERS AND SPEECHES 



OF THE 



HON. JAMES H. HAMMOND, 



OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 




NEW YORK: 

JOHN F. TROW & CO., PRINTERS, 50 GREENE STREET, 

1866. 






Entered aecorJing to Act of Congress in the year 18C6, by 

JOHN F. TROW & CO., 

In the Clerk's 0/1^ ';e of the District Court of the United States, for the Southern 
District of New York. 



O O i^ T E N T S. 



PAOB 

Report at a Meeting op the State Rights and Free Trade 
Party op Barnwell District, South Carolina, held 
at Barnwell Court-House, on Monday, July 7th, 
1834, 5 

Speech on the Justice op Receiving Petitions for the 

Abolition op Slavery in the District op Columbia, . 15 

Message to the Senate and House op Representatives of 

THE State of South Carolina, Nov. 28, 1843, . . 51 

Message to the Senate and House op Representatives op 

THE State of South Carolina, Nov. 26, 1844., . . 79 

Letter to the Free Church of Glasgow, on the Subject 

op Slavery, 105 

Two Letters on the Subject op Slavery in the United 

States, addressed to Thomas Clarkson, Esq., . .114 

An Oration delivered before the Two Societies op the 

South Carolina College, on the 4th op Dec, 1849, . 199 



,/ 



IV CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

An Oration on the Life, Character, and Services op John 
Caldwell Calhoun, delivered on the 21st November, 
1850, IN Charleston, S. C, at the request of the 
City Council, 231 

Speech on the Admission of Kansas, Under the Lecompton 
Constitution, delivered in the Senate of the United 
States, March 4, 1858, 301 

< Speech delivered at Barnwell C. H,, S. C, October 29, 

1858, • . . 323 

Speech on the Relations of the States, delivered in the 

Senate of the United States, May 21, I860,, . . 3S8 



STATE EIGHTS AND FREE TRADE. 



AT A MEETING OP THE STATE RIGHTS AND FREE TRADE PARTY 
OF BARNWELL, DISTRICT, SOUTH CAROLINA, HELD AT BARN- 
WELL COURT-HOUSE, ON MONDAY, JULY 7th, 1834, COL. JAMES H. 
HAMMOND MADE THE 



REPORT. 

TuE Committee, appointed by tlie Meeting of the 
Citizens of Barnwell on the 4th of June, have reflect- 
ed maturely on the subject referred to their considera- 
tion. Few occasions have occurred in the history of 
our State, requiring more serious deliberation, and 
dispassionate decision. An honest and independent 
Judiciary is the safest check upon the accumulation 
of power in the Legislative and Executive Depart- 
ments of the Government. Unfortunately, the manner 
of their appointment, compensation, and promotion, is 
too apt to lead the Judges, if not directly to sanction, 
at least to connive at, the usurpations of the coordinate 
Departments. Whenever, therefore, in the exercise 
of their acknowledged functions, they throw them- 
selves in opposition to and arrest the hand of legiti- 
mate power, it becomes a people, jealous of their 
rights, and justly prejudiced in favor of too weak 
rather than too strons; a Government, to sustain them 

1 



in tlieir judgment, unless it should be clear that they 
have been influenced by unworthy motives, or have 
made an unjust and dangerous decree. Entertaining 
this view, had the majority of the Court of Appeals, 
in the present instance, following the safe judicial 
]3recedent of adjudging no point not necessarily 
involved in determining the rights of the parties be- 
fore the Court, confined themselves to the proper 
construction of the Constitution of the State, this 
Committee would, without hesitation, have recommend- 
ed, as the wisest course, a silent submission to their 
decision, until the Constitution could be amended by 
the action of the people, so as to obviate every obsta- 
cle to their wishes. But, as they have gone further, 
and, after conclusively settling the rights of parties 
by deciding the Oath, required by the recent Military 
Bill, to be against the Constitution of the State, and, 
therefore, void ; with great candor as men, but doubt- 
ful discretion as Judges, have unnecessarily discussed, 
and judicially decided, the great fundamental ques- 
tion which lies at the bottom of our system, of State 
and Federal Governments, involving, essentially, all 
their relations with one another, as well as the politi- 
cal rights of every individual in America — it becomes 
the duty of the people, in the opinion of this Com- 
mittee, to look fully into the matter, and inquire into 
the reasons of such an important and extraordinary 
step. Indeed, to permit a question so interesting, so 
vital to their rights and liberties, which, in some form 
or other, has agitated this confederacy from its origin 
to the present day, which they themselves have long 
discussed with the most intense anxiety, and decided 
for this State by a majority of two thirds ; in support 



of which decisioD, they have actually taken up arms, 
and pledged life, fortune, and honor : to be finally 
adjudged and settled against them, Ijy the mere dicta 
of two men, no matter how great their worth, or how 
dignified their station, without freely examining their 
motives and their arguments, would exhibit an in- 
consistency and apathy too great to be expected or 
believed: And this examination the Committee pro- 
poses briefly to make. 

The discussion of this great question has, necessari- 
ly, divided the State into two parties ; its vital impor- 
tance of itself, its connection with some of the most 
interesting measures of the day, and the length, and 
ardor of the discussion, have produced much exaspera- 
tion. It is well known that the two Judges, who 
constitute the majority of the Appeal Court, are mem- 
bers of that party whicli has opposed the measures of 
the majority of the people constituting the State. 
They have been active partisans, taking part, publicly, 
in the discussion before the people — confidentially 
consulted, it is suj^posed, on all the movements of the 
party, and members of the Convention of that party, 
which, met at the most critical moment of affairs, and 
resolved not to sustain the State, when it was evident 
that a contest for its existence was at hand. What- 
ever may be our respect for the private worth, or our 
veneration for the public dignity, of these Judges, it 
is impossible to close our minds to the conviction, that 
from these facts should be traced the motives whicli 
induced them to depart from the rules ordinarily 
observed in their decisions, and to discuss unnecessarily 
the question constituting the basis of the difference 
between the two parties of the State ; and (following, 



no doubt, the sincere conviction of their minds), to 
throw the weight of their judicial influence into the 
scale of the party in the minority. 

The real question put at issue, and determined by 
the Judges, in that part of their decision which may 
justly be considered idtra judicial, is, whether, accord- 
ing to our confederated system, sovereignty, or the 
last power of decision iu all civil and political ques- 
tions, from which there can be no appeal, resides in 
the States, respectively, or in the Federal Govern- 
ment. The paramount allegiance of the citizen, or 
obligation to obey without further question, is due of 
course to that last power or sovereignty. The Oath 
in the Military Bill required every Oflicer to swear 
allegiance to the State of South Carolina ; in other 
words, to acknowledge her his sovereign. Although 
the Court of Appeals, on other grounds, decided the 
Oath to be void, yet they have chosen to make a 
dictum against it on this ground also ; and by a 
course of reasoning as extraordinary as original. They 
argue thus : Allegiance, in its feudal origin, meant the 
duty which a vassal owed his Chief — the su1)ject his 
King; to follow them in war, and to pay tax and 
homage to them in peace, for which he was protected 
in both ; that, in this country, where there are no 
Kings or Chiefs, but all power resides in the People, 
this duty is due to them ; that in a state of nature 
they cannot exact it, nor give what is required in 
return for it, jproteetion. It is, therefore, due only to 
their government^ which they regard as the first state 
of a popular organization. It then means nothing but 
obedience. But we have two Governments, State and 
Federal. We now, therefore, owe allegiance, or 



obedience, to two powers. Neither has a right to 
claim it exclusively. Judge O'Neale understands the 
Oath prescribed by the Legislature, to require ex- 
clusive allegiance to the State, and, therefore, not to 
be enforced. Judge Johnson does not so understand 
it, but concurring in the train of reasoning above 
stated, puts it beyond doubt, that if such he the true 
meaning of the Oath (which it clearly is) he must 
concur in this conclusion also. This is the substance 
of the argument of the majority of the Aj^peal Court 
fairly stated, in few words. We admit, on our part, 
that we have two Governments. We admit, that we 
owe obedience to both. We admit, that obedience is 
all that Government can now require of us, and if the 
highest duty which we owe, is to the Government of 
the people, we admit the consequence that allegiance 
and obedience are the same, and the conclusions of the 
Court correct. But the highest duty which we owe 
is not to the Government. On this point we take our 
issue, and draw the dividing line, which, however 
slight it may appear, at first glance, in the opinion of 
this committee, separates right and wrong, justice and 
oppression, liberty and bondage. Upon what ground 
can Government claim from us this paramount obli- 
gation ? Because, says the Court, it gives us in return 
the highest possible equivalent, protection. Protec- 
tion? How? Can Government, of itself, by virtue 
of any inherent power it possesses, create men, money, 
and arms, to protect us against foreign or domestic 
war ? Can it give spontaneous force and vigor to its 
laws, to protect our lives, or liberty, or property, from 
the assaults of our fellow-men ? Nay ; can it, by any 
elementary vitality, any independent self-action, main- 



10 

tain its own existence for a single hour ? If it cannot 
do these things, and that it cannot is the first principle 
of Eepublicanism, how can it iwotect us % The argu- 
ment is not only superficial, but dangerous. The 
Court, while pretending to discard the idea of alle- 
giance as foreign in its origin, and anti-republican in 
its nature, has fallen into the very error which it 
reprobated, and founded its whole theory npon the 
exploded doctrines of the old world. It is there 
taught, that Governments can do everything. It is 
there that Kings, acting by " divine right," have 
unlimited control over the destinies of their subjects ; 
and Governments nniversally punish it as treason to 
question their possession of sovereign and unlimited 
power, by virtue of which they bind the conscience, 
seize the property, sacrifice the lives, and " protect " 
the rights of the people. Here, we have a power ahove 
the Government. A power which sustains and " pro- 
tects" the Government, gives it existence, energy, 
legality, the command of resources, and the power to 
exact the " obedience " of the citizen. This transcend- 
ent power is Sovereignty, and belongs to the peo- 
ple only. Not to the people in a " state of nature," 
which is one of those philosoj)hic dreams with which 
political science has nothing to do ; but to the people 
in a state of society in which they have been found 
from the foundation of the world. In other words, it 
belongs to the true first state of popular organization 
called the Social Compact. A compact which, from 
the nature of things, necessarily arises whenever a 
number of individuals meet and form a distinct com- 
munity, whether large or small, the principle of whose 
existence is, that they will adhere together, on their 



11 

own soil, agaiust all tlie Avorld ; and tlie first law of 
which is, that every memljer must submit implicitly 
to the will of the majority, so long as he continues 
with them. It is this high and exclusive obligation 
which we dignify with the name of " allegiance," in 
return for Avhich, the individual receives the substan- 
tial }3rotection of the compact, not only from external 
and internal foes, but from all invasions of his right 
by Government itself, which it creates, limits, checks, 
and alters at discretion. The duty which Ave owe that 
Government, while it exists, in all its various depart- 
ments, is called " obedience." 

If this view be correct, it follows that the Court of 
Appeals has entirely mistaken the nature of allegiance, 
and the authority to which it is due — that there is a 
clear distinction between allegiance and obedience ; 
and that since an individual cannot be at the same 
time a member of two social compacts, his allegiance 
cannot be divided, though his obedience may be due 
to any number of coordinate authorities. By apply- 
ing these conclusions to the question drawn before the 
Court, it will be perceived, that to determine the true 
ultimate relations of the American citizen to his two 
Governments, it is only necessary to ascertain to what 
Social Compact he belongs. There his allegiance is 
due, and in all conflicts for power, to that he must ad- 
here ; or, by abandoning it, deprive himself of all its 
privileges. Where then does his compact lie ? It is 
well known, that in every instance of the formation of 
a Colony in this country, whether by direct emigration 
from the mother-country, or by separation from other 
Colonies, a new and distinct community was created, 
independent of every other in America ; which consti- 



12 

tuted a separate Social Compact, and gave rise to a se- 
parate Government. It is true, eacli Social Compact 
considered itself a part of the Social Compact, and 
each Government depended on the Government of 
England. This anomalous condition is what is termed, 
among nations, the Colonial state. And it is only ne- 
cessary to regard it in this point of view, to perceive 
how intolerable it must be to the free spirit, and how 
impossible it was, and 'is, to maintain it among the 
Sons of Liberty on this side of the Atlantic. The Re- 
volution severed this connection, and each Colony was 
declared a Sovereign and Independent State. They 
afterwards formed the present Union, and created a 
new Government by the Constitution of the United 
States. Did they dissolve their separate Social Com- 
pacts, and consolidate them into one, and revive their 
colonial condition with a change of masters only, by 
this act ? There is no evidence of the fact in the Con- 
stitution, nor in the history of the times. There has 
always been a party in this country, led more by their 
instinct for power than any force of reason, who have 
attempted to confuse the relation of the State and 
Federal Governments, and, practically, to consolidate 
all power in a Federal Head ; l^ut this clear elementary 
fact of the amalgamation of the compact, without 
which all their attempts at reasoning must fall, has not, 
that we know of, ever been contended for. JSTo such 
event took place. A new Government was created — 
not a /State — a new body ^^oUtlc — not social. A new 
authority was called into existence, empowered to re- 
quire the " obedience " of the citizen, but not to claim 
his " allegiance ; " in shor/" ? new agency, not a sover- 
eignty, arose. The differen. Social Compacts parted 



13 

Avitli no portion of their transcendent dominion, but 
only made a new division of their delegated power be- 
tween the State and the new Government, retaining, 
unimpaired, their sovereign right to limit and control 
the action of both within their geographical bounda- 
ries. The farthest they did go, was to agree not to 
alter the Constitution of the Federal Government, 
without the consent of three fourths of the compacts. 
But in this they yielded up no real power, since any 
one of them can secede and throAV off its obli<rations 
to the whole, whenever it sees fit ; and, consequently, 
is not necessarily bound to submit finally to the alter- 
ations which may be made, against its wishes, even by 
three fourths. Thus it appears to this Committee, that 
the Social Compacts of each of the States remain per- 
fect and unimpaired by their connection with the other 
States, and as the highest known human authority 
within their respective limits, is entitled to claim the 
allegiance of every individual, so long as he remains a 
citizen thereof; and to withhold not only power, but 
protection from every one who refuses to acknowledge 
it. In support of this view, and the whole argument, 
v/e might cite the express reservation in the Constitu- 
tion of the United States, and the Oaths of exclusive 
Allegiance required by a large number of the States. 
We might also add to this mere sketch of the argu- 
ment, in favor of State Sovereignty, many other views 
and illustrations to meet those of the Court, and 
strengthen our position ; but the Committee forbear 
to urge them on the patience of this meeting, believing 
they have said enough to place their opinions upon in- 
contestible grounds. They might also go on to show, 
that from the principles here laid down, results inevi- 



14 

tably tlie rjglit of State interj)osition to clieck tlie iin- 
coDstitutional acts of tlie Federal Governmeut, with 
all its salutary consequences ; wliile from those laid 
down by the Court, follows as certainly the consolida- 
tion and colonial dependency of the States, with all its 
train of e\dls, the first of which must be dissolution of 
the Union. But this would again lead us into discus- 
sion, foreign to the immediate purpose of the meeting. 
Upon a calm review of the whole matter, the Com- 
mittee are of opinion, that the Constitution of the 
State ought to be amended, in conformity with the 
Bill introduced at the last session of the Legislature, 
so as to require an oath of Allegiance from all persons 
hereafter taking Office under the State of South Caro- 
lina. As it is evident, from the opinions of a major- 
ity of the Court of Appeals, that no oath requiring 
exclusive allegiance to the State will be enforced by 
that Court, it would be nugatory to amend the Con- 
stitution, without also remodelling the Court, so as to 
secure the full and effectual execution of the will of the 
People. The Committee regard it, therefore, as ab- 
solutely necessary that that should be done in such 
manner as to the Legislature may seem best. 

J. H. HAMMOND, Chairman. 



SPEECH 



ON" THE JUSTICE OP RECEIVING TETITIONS FOR THE ABOLITION OF 
SLAVERY IN THE DISTRICT OP COLUMBIA. 



The motion of Mr. Cusliing, of Massachusetts, to 
receive the petition of sundry inhabitants of Massa- 
chusetts praying for the abolition of Slavery and the 
Slave-trade in the District of Columbia beiuo: under 
consideration : 

Mr. Hammond said, that when he had first demand- 
ed the preliminary question of reception on the presenta- 
tion of a similar petition some weeks ago, it was his hope 
and expectation that it would be decided without de- 
bate. On every subsequent occasion when he had felt 
it bis duty to make a similar demand, he had enter- 
tained the same desire, and had himself refrained from 
taking any part in the discussions which had arisen. 
It was obvious, however, that gentlemen presenting 
these petitions were determined to discuss them ; and 
after what had occurred on last petition-day, he con- 
cluded that no petition would be offered to the House 
hereafter, without a ^preliminary speech as well as mo- 
tion. As much, therefore, as he felt indisposed to 
block the proceedings of the House on this important 
day, he thought ^^erhaps he had as well say at once 
what he had to say on this subject in its present stage, 



16 

and by so doing he might facihtate the business of the 
House. 

I listened, sir, with much pleasure to the address of 
the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Gushing) who 
presented this petition, and I believe I can say that I 
concur in every principle which he laid down. I am 
sure that he cannot have a greater regard for the right 
of petition than I entertain. But, really, I cannot see 
what the discussion of that right can have to do with 
the question before the House. 

No one here desires to " puss a law " depriving " the 
people of the right of peaceably assembling, and peti- 
tioning for a redress of grievances." They have so as- 
sembled. They have petitioned for the redress of their 
imaginary grievances. The petition has been present- 
ed to the House. Its contents have been stated. If 
it had been requested, the petition itself might have 
been read by the Clerk. We are, sir, in full possession 
of its character and object — the petitioners and their 
representatives having performed their part without 
" let or hindrance ; " and it is now our duty to perform 
that Avhich devolves on us. We may refuse to receive 
the petition, and record the refusal on our journals ; 
or we may receive and instantly reject ; or commit, and, 
on a report, reject the prayer of the petitioners ; or we 
may grant their prayer. Any of these courses it is 
fully competent for this House to adopt ; and none of 
them, in my opinion, impugn in the slightest degree 
the right of petition which has been so justly denomi- 
nated "sacred." 

I think, sir, that this House should not receive the 
petition, and that is the course which I suggest. The 
gentleman says it is not disrespectful in its terms. I 



17 

pass that by, then. But I tliink we slioiild not receive 
it still, because it asks us to do what we have no con- 
stitutional power to do ; and what, if we had the 
power, it would be ruinous to a large portion of this 
confederacy, and ultimately destructive to all our in- 
stitutions, for us to do. 

The constitutional power to abolish Slavery and the 
Slave-trade in this District, is claimed by virtue of the 
clause which gives to Congress " exclusive legislation " 
here. I admit at once, that under that clause Con- 
gress has full power, so far as " legislation " is concern- 
ed, over this District, except where it is limited by the 
letter or the spirit of the Constitution in other por- 
tions of that instrument, or by the contracts made 
with the States of Virginia and Maryland in the acts 
of cession by those States. As this point has been 
ably, and I think satisfactorily, discussed, both in this 
House and another portion of the Capitol, I will take 
but a single view of it at this time. All the powers 
given by the Constitution are trust powers, and should 
be construed in connection with each other, and in 
reference to the great objects they were intended to 
accomplish. Now, T ask, if any member of this House, 
having before him these clauses of the Constitution 
forbidding the passage of laws, even by the States, to 
prevent the arrest of " persons held to labor " in the 
other States — forbidding " Congress to take private 
property" even "for public uses without just compen- 
sation," and recognizing slaves as iwopertif^ entitled to 
representation only as three fifths, and not as ][)6rsons 
entitled to full representation, — can say that it will 
not be a violation of the letter and the whole spirit of 
the Constitution to assume the power which you are 



18 

now called on to exercise — as mncli a violation of it as 
to pass an ex ijost facto law or bill of attainder here? 

I ask gentlemen if tliey believe this Constitution 
would ever have received the sanction of a sins-le Slave- 
State, if it had been suspected for a moment that this 
power now claimed was given to Congress by it ? 

But, sir, admitting for the sake of argument that 
the Constitution places no limitation to the power of 
" legislation " in the District of Columbia : I ask how 
far that power will, of itself, extend ? What are the 
great objects of all human legislation ? ^o iwotect life, 
liberty, and ])roperty. Can we, under this definition, 
assume the power wantonly to destroy them ? It is 
true property is sometimes seized as a penalty for mis- 
demeanors ; and liberty, and even life, are forfeited for 
crimes. But does this warrant Congress, or any legis- 
lative body in this country, at its free will and j)leas- 
ure to confiscate the estate of a peaceful and unoifend- 
ing citizen, or imprison him or take away his life 
without offence ? — Sir, monstrous as these propositions 
are, they are not more monstrous, nor would they be 
more fatal in their consequences, than that which these 
petitioners ask us now to adopt. — And here let me say, 
in answer to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. 
Cushing), that I can see no difference between the con- 
stitutional power to abolish tlie internal Slave-trade 
and the power to abolish Slavery itself If the slave- 
owner is deprived of the full use of his property, un- 
less that use impairs the rights of others, you can as 
well deprive him of the pro23erty itself. The principle 
in both cases is the same. But for the reasons I have 
already mentioned, I will not dwell on this branch of 
the subject. 



19 

Mr. SiDeaker, I object to tlie reception of these pe- 
titions, in the next place, because they are sent here hy 
persons who are pursuing a systematic plan of 023era- 
tions, intended to subvert the institutions of the South, 
and which, if carried into effect, must desolate the 
fairest portion of America, and dissolve in blood the 
bonds of this Confederacy. It has been said upon this 
floor, that the Al^olitionists of the North are very few 
in number, and of so little influence as to be unworthy 
of our attention. It has been said here, on the other 
hand, that they constitute a majority north of Mason 
and Dixon's line, and that their influence is "tremen- 
dous." Amid this conflicting testimony, permit me to 
call the attention of the House to some important facts 
connected with, the subject. 

It will be recollected that during this session, in 
consequence of the course which, has been taken in the 
matter, on but a single day has an opportunity occur- 
red for a free presentation of petitions of the character 
of that before us. On that day, althougli it could not 
have been expected that the occasion would occur, 
fifty-eight of these petitions were presented — a number 
considerably larger than the average number presented 
during the last four sessions. These petitions are sign- 
ed by between seven and eight thousand persons, male 
and female ; some of them signing as representatives of 
large Societies. I have been informed that three hun- 
dred petitions of this kind have been forwarded to 
Congress, and I do not doubt the fact. If they are as 
numerously signed, we shall have the names of some 
forty thousand persons petitioning Congress at this 
session to abolish Slavery and the Slave-trade in the 



20 

District of Columbia. This, sir, is no slight evidence 
of the strength of the Abolition party. 

But let us trace the history of the formation of the 
Societies to which I have alluded. In 1 832, less than 
four years ago, the 'New England Anti-Slavery Society 
was formed. This, I believe, was the first noticeal)le 
Society of this kind created on this side of the Atlan- 
tic. I remember well the ridicule with which it was 
covered when it was known that it had been formed 
by a meeting of eleven persons. Sometime in the year 
1833 the New York Anti-Slavery Society was formed 
by a meeting composed of two and twenty men, and 
two females. I remember, also, the contempt with 
which this annunciation was greeted; but, sir, they 
grew in spite of indifference and contumely. 

On the 4th of December, 1833, at a Convention of 
Abolitionists in the city of Philadelphia, the great 
American Anti-Slavery Society was formed, and a bold 

" DECLARATION OF THEIR SENTIMENTS " WaS givCU tO the 

world. They announced that "all slaves should in- 
stantly be set free " " without compensation to their 
owners ; " " that the paths of preferment, of wealth, and 
of intelligence, should be as widely opened to them as 
to persons of a white complexion ; " and that to effect 
these purposes they pledged themselves " to organize 
Anti-Slavery Societies everywhere ; " " to send forth 
agents to remonstrate, warn, and relnike ; to circulate 
periodicals and tracts ; " " to enlist the pulpit and the 
press ; " " to purify the Churches of the .; crime of 
slavery;" "and to encourage the labor of freemen 
rather than that of slaves, by giving a preference to 
their productions." 

From this moment the infection spread with uu- 



21 

paralleled rapidity. In May following (1834) there 
were sixty Anti-Slavery Societies. By May, 1835, the 
number had increased to two hix^deed. By October, 
1835, it had swollen to three huistdeed. And by a 
document which I hold in my hand purporting to be a 
" protest of the American Anti-Slavery Society " against 
certain sentiments expressed on this subject, by the 
President of the United States, in his last Annual 
Message, it appears that there were known to be three 
hundred and fifty Anti-Slavery Societies in the Uni- 
ted States on the 25th day of December last. 

Some of these societies contain as many as four 
thousand members, and none of them, I believe, less 
than fifty. On a fair calculation it may be presumed 
that not less than one hundred thousand persons in the 
non-slaveholding States are united in these societies, 
and their numbers are increasing daily with a rapidity 
almost beyond conception — a disciplined corps, who 
have pledged life and fortune to the great purpose of 
emancipation. 

That the spirit, means, purposes, and plans of these 
societies may appear more fully, I will refer to the 
" Address of the American Anti-Slavery Society," at 
its last annual meeting, which I have in my hand, and 
ask permission of the House that the Clerk may read. 

" Address to the Auxiliaries and Friends of the American Anti-Slavery 
Society. 

" Deae Brethren : At tlie last annual meeting of the American Anti- 
Slavery Society, it was 'Resolved, That an effort be made to raise 30,000 
dollars for the use of the Society the present year, and that the Aboli- 
tionists present pledge themselves to raise such sums as they may respect- 
ively offer.' 

" Donations and pledges were immediately obtained, amounting to 14,- 
500 dollars. 

" Additional pledges have since been obtained in Boston, to the amount 
2 



22 

of 4,000 dollars. The sum of 11,500 dollars remains to be raised. As 
there are known to be more than two hundred Anti-Slavery Societies, on 
kindred principles with the American, we have no doubt that this sum 
can speedily be made up. Each Society has only to raise 150 dollars, and 
the work is done. We believe that those Societies which remain un- 
pledged will joyfully come forward to do their proportion as soon as 

called on. 

****** 

"The plan proposed at the annual meeting, and now adopted by the 
Executive Committee, in the confident belief tliat tlie means will be fur- 
nished, is this : 

" 1. To increase the number of Agents, by appointing as many able, effi- 
cient, and thorough-going men as can be obtained. 

"2. To commence the distribution of publications on a new and ex- 
tended scale. 

"The following publications will be issued monthly, viz. : 

" 1. On the first week of each month, a small folio paper, entitled ' Hu- 
man Rights,' to be filled with facts and arguments on the subject of 
Slavery and its remedy, written in a i^lain and familiar style. Of this 
twenty thousand copies will be printed, to be increased to fifty thousand 
or more, as soon as arrangements can be made to have them promptly and 
judiciously distributed among the reading population. 

" 2. On the second week, the ' Anti-Slavery Record,' a small magazine, 
with cuts, will be printed, to the number of twenty-five thousand copies. 

"3. On the third week, the 'Emancipator' will be printed on a large 
imperial sheet, of the size of the 'New York Observer,' or the 'New 
York Evangelist.' Tliis will contain more extended essays and descrip- 
tions, on points connected with the cause. It is expected that from fif- 
teen to twenty-five thousand copies will be printed monthly this year. 

"4, On the fourth week will be issued twenty-five thousand copies of 
the 'Slave's Friend,' a juvenile magazine, with cuts, adapted especially 
for circulation among children and youth. 

"All these publications will be distributed gratuitously, by the aid of 
the auxiliaries, to those Avho are not Abolitionists, or will be sold at the 
office, to friends of the cause, at a very low rate. 

****** 

" The present is the time for action, 
jt * * * * * 

"Let Female Societies be formed. Female Societies probably did 
more for the abolition of slavery in Great Britain than those of the other 
sex. They scattered anti-slavery tracts, handbills, pamphlets, and books, 
everywhere. Tbey circulated petitions ; they covered articles of furniture 
or apparel, such as pincushion?, work-boxes, handkerchiefs, boxes, bas- 
kets, purses, portfolios, etc., etc., -with devices and mottoes reminding the 



23 

nsers of the poor slaves. They made the matter a topic of conversation 
on almost all occasions. Several societies of ladies in this country have 
already commenced the same course with good success. Let the female 
sex, then, throughout the land, emulate the efforts made by their sisters 
over the ocean, in this work of benevolence. 

"Juvenile Societies, too, may be engaged in the same work. Children 

are all Abolitionists. 

* 4 * * * * 

" We hope Abolitionists will everywhere make it a personal business 
to distribute the publications ; that they will not let them be thrown 
away, but put them in the hands, only, of those who will read and 
think. Let no Abolitionist, at home or abroad, ever be without a sup- 
ply, and be ready to embrace every favorable opportunity. 

"Petitions to Congress for the abolition of Slavery in the District 
of Columbia should be put in circulation immediately. The minds of the 
members of Congress should, if possible, be enlightened as to the real 
design of the American Anti-Slavery Society, and their prejudices should 
be removed, as in many it may easily be, by personal interviews with 
Abolitionists. The way may thus be prepared for a more favorable 
hearing before the representatives of the people. * * * 

(Signed) "Akthtjr Tappan, 

John Ranxin, 
Lewis Tappan, 
Joshua Leavitt, 
Samuel E. Coenish, 
Willi A.M Goodell, 
Abkaham L. Cox, 
TuEODOEE S. Wright, 
Simeox S. Jocelyn, 
Elizar Wright, Jr. 
Executive Committee of the American Anti-Slavery Society." 

Here, Sir, is a number of the paper entitled " Hu- 
man Riglits" — a neat, well-printed slieet. Here are 
several numbers of tlie " Anti-Slavery Record," on the 
outside of each of which is a picture representing a 
master flogging naked slaves, and each of which con- 
tains within pictures equally revolting. Here is a hand- 
ful of the little primer called the "Slave's Friend." 
On the covers, and within each of these, are also pic- 
tures calculated to excite the feelings, and to nurture 



24 

the incendiary spark in the tender bosom of the child. 
And here, Sir, is " The Emancipator," a large and hand- 
some paper. And that you may understand the spirit 
and principles which it inculcates, I will read to the 
House a paragraph from a number dated New York, 
Nov., 1S35. 

"The Alternative. — William "Wertenbaker, Assistant P. M. and Li- 
brarian of the University of Virginia, gives notice that be has coinniitted 
to the flames a copy of ' Human Rights ' we sent liim, and very gravely 
asks, 'Which of the two do you prefer — a perpeiuity of slavery, or a dis- 
solution of the Union? '' The latter, we say, by all odds, if we must 
choose. We are for union, but not with slavery. We will give tlie 
Union for the abolition of slavery, if nothing else will gain it; but if we 
cannot gain it at all, then the South is Avelcome to a dissolution — the 
sooner the better. The slaveholders may as well understand, first cs last, 
that ' The Union ' may have other uses to them than tliat of a lash to 
shake over the heads of Northern freemen." 

It speaks for itself. I make no commentary. 
Here, Sir, is a pamphlet called the " Anti-Slavery Re- 
porter," published monthly, I believe, by this Society. 
Here is a " Quarterly Anti-Slavery Magazine," of very 
respectable size, edited by Elizar Wright, Jr. Here is 
a pamphlet entitled " Anti-Slavery Hymns," of w^hich 
there are nineteen. They purport to be for the use of 
the "Monthly Concerts for the Enslaved" in the city 
of New York, and the publication of a more copious 
collection in Boston is announced. Here is a small 
book entitled "Juvenile Poems." It contains, besides 
a great number of doggerel articles of the most in- 
flammatory character, some [nine or ten disgusting 
prints, all of which are designed " for the use of free 
American children of every complexion." Here is a 
pamphlet written by a " Man of Color^'' and here are 
a quantity of Sermons, Essays, Reports, Letters, <fec., 
<fec., all intended for the same incendiary purposes. 



25 

I hold also in mj hand, that most powerful engine 
in party warfiire, an " Anti-Slavery Almanac for 1836." 
From this allow me to read two short extracts. The 
following will show the political tendency of this abo- 
lition agitation : " We are rexoarding slaveholders for 
their usur^yation and injustice^ hij aUoiuing them to 
send 25 Representatives to Congress to represent their 
slave property T It has been said that "the petition- 
ers have no further object than merely to wipe from 
the national escutcheon the stain affixed to it by per- 
mitting slavery to exist at the seat of government of 
the United States." In answer to that allow me to 
qnote the following passage ; and there is scarcely a 
publication that I have exhibited here to day in which 
the same sentiment is not expressed : " Should you 
abolish slavery in the District of Columbia alone, it 
would heave the foundation of the system in every 
State of the TInionT Nor is this work without its 
pictures, libelling the slaveholders with its vile carica- 
tures. To illustrate more fully the political tendency 
of the extraordinary excitement on this subject, al- 
though I do not intend on this occasion to discuss that 
branch of the question, I will refer the House to an 
extract from the " Anti-Slavery Circular," j^rinted at 
Medina, Ohio, December, 1835, which I hold in my 
hand, and which I again ask the favor of the House to 
permit the Clerk to read. 

"There are now about lialf a million that still have tlie liberty of 
holding slaves ; their slaves now amount to upwards of t\vo millions, and 
their landed estates are of vast extent; they have entire control over 
eleven States — the poorer classes of the white people are well trained to 
subjection, and occupy a grade a little above that of the slaves. Few 
nobles in Europe can command so great a retinue of servants — and no 
king on earth possesses more absolute authority. Indeed, such is their 



26 

dignity, wealth, and influence, that although but half a million, they are 
able to control twelve and a half millions, and do in fact govern the 
Union ; and the plan is now laid to keep up and increase their dignity, 
"wealth, and power, to future generations. They have managed so wisely 
as to get the whole Union bound by the Constitution to keep their slaves 
in subjection, and allow them a representation in the General Govern- 
ment in proportion to the number of their slaves. The increase of these, 
already 54,000 a year, will soon give the increase of one Representative 
every year. By the aid of the rest of the Union, the slaves can be kept 
in subjection until they shall have become much more numerous than the 
white people, provided they are prevented from learning to read, and 
thus kept in total ignorance. And for this purpose, laws are passed with 
heavy penalties against teaching slaves to read. Now it is obvious, that 
by those means Slavery might be extended to remote posterity, especially 
with what assistance the Colonization Society might be able to give them, 
by carrying off occasionally a little of the surplusage. Every one can 
easily see that these Southern gentlemen have before them a magnificent 
prospect of wealth and power, provided the rest of the Union will con- 
tinue to be their humble servants in enabling them to keep their slaves 
in subjection. Now the avowed design of the Abolitionists is to abolish 
Slavery — not indeed by force of arms, but by forming against it public 
opinion, which will be even more powerful. They have combined together 
to propagate the doctrine, that ' all men are made of one blood,' and of 
course are 'treated equal.' Vast sums of money are now pledged to prop- 
agate the sentiment throughout the whole land. Agents are lecturing, 
papers are circulating, societies are forming, and thousands continually 
joining them. It seems as if the world will soon be on fire. What is to 
be done ? Argument has been tried and exhausted in vain ! Mobs liave 
been tried with little effect! The heresy spreads like fire in the whirl- 
wind. The last remedy is now demanded — Extermination entire, — noth- 
ing less will do ! If matters go on as they are, the result is obvious : — 
Every man who does not hold slaves will set his face against Slavery — 
and then, how will half a million of men continue to hold more than 
two millions in bondage? Mai'k the design! All force is disavowed; 
but then, the slaveholder must, so soon as the tide of public opinion rolls 
against him, yield up his slaves: he cannot hold them without aid ; m-ach 
less can he bear the reproach that will be heaped upon him. 

"It is not to be disguised. Sir, that war has broken ont between the 
South and the North, not easily to be terminated. Political and com- 
mercial men, for their own purposes, are industriously striving to restore 
peace. But the peace which they may accomplish will be superficial 
and hollow. True and permanent peace can only be restored by remov- 
ing the cause of the war — that is, slavery. It can never be established 
on any other terms. The sword now drawn will not be sheathed till 



27 

victory, entire victory, is ours or theirs ; not nntil tliat deep and damning 
stain is washed out from our nation, or tlie chains of Slavery are riveted 
afresh where they now are, and on our necks also. It is idle, criminal, 
to speak of peace on any other terms." 

Sir, wliile we are discussing the question of tlie 
reception of these petitions, movements are making at 
the north, and societies are springing up like mush- 
rooms. Here are the proceedings of a meeting held 
within a few weeks past, at Lowell, Massachusetts, the 
centre of the tariif interest, at which was formed a 
"Young Men's Anti-Slavery Society," the preamble 
of whose constitution I will read : 

" PKE AMBLE. 

"Whereas, unconditional slavery exists to a fearful extent amongst 
us as a nation, in violation of those principles that moved our fathers to 
the dreadful struggle of the Revolution — ' that all men are created equal, 
that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, 
that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.' 

" Wheeeas, the aristocracy of the South are determined to perpetuate 
it by means scarcely less dreadful than the tortures of the Inquisition, and 
tlie [bastard] aristocracy of the Korth are aiding their 'chivalrous' com- 
peers of the South in their inhuman endeavors by misrepresenting, slan- 
dering, threatening, and imprisoning those who boldly espouse the cause 
of universal freedom, and further by circulating publications and making 
speeches so highly incendiary as to excite mobs, and impel them to their 
ruthless work of terror and destruction. 

" Whereas, the crisis has arrived at which the descendants of the 
pilgrims must determine whether they Avill establish the shameful and 
cowardly precedent of surrendering their most sacred rights at the nod 
of an arrogant, domineering, and self-constituted aristocracy, or in the 
spirit of their fathers manfully maintain them. 

AisfD Whereas, if we remain silent and inactive we effectually sur- 
render those rights, and with them the hopes of the slave, till the predic- 
tion of Jefferson shall be realized, and the slave, fearless and free, shall 
till the land of his thraldom enriched with the blood of his master. 

Therefore, Kesolved, under a deep sense of duty to ourselves, to the 
slave, to our country, and to God, that ' sink or swim, live or die, survive 
or perish,' we will exercise the right of discussing the subject of slavery ; 
that we wiU use all coustitutional and peaceful means for its speedy ter- 



28 

mination — and to act the more efEcientlv, form ourselves into a society 
and adopt the following, drc. 

Here is a circular, dated " Pautucket, Ehode Isl- 
and, Jau. 12, 1836," calling a "Ehode Island Anti- 
Slavery Convention,'' to meet shortly at Providence. 
It is signed by eiglit hnndred and forty persons. I 
will read from it tlie following remarkable passage, 
from wLicli it may be seen bow deep the roots of this 
hostility to our institutions have struck into the foun- 
dations of society. 

" Our country friends, we hope, will attend as numerously as they 
have signed the circular. The wealth and aristocracy of our cities are 
against us. They sympathize not with the 'poor and needy,' but with 
' the arrogant and him of high look?.' Let our laboring men, then, the 
mechanics and the farmers, attend the Convention, They can easily ar- 
range their business so as to make it convenient to be in Providence at 
that time." 

Here, Sii', is the Prospectus of the sixth volume of 
the " LiBEEATOE," published at Boston by Isaac Knapp. 
Prefixed to it is an incendiary picture, and it contains 
the following j^assage, which exhibits, possibly with 
some exaggeration, in a strong point of view, the ex- 
tent of the agitation on this subject throughout the 
non-slaveholding States. 

"The sixth volume of the ' Liberator ' commences on the first of Jan- 
uary, 1836. During the term of its existence, it has succeeded, in despite 
of calumny and a strong opposition, in dispelling the apathy of the na- 
tion, creating an extraordinary and most auspicious interest for the op- 
pressed, inducing a rigid investigation of the subject, and securing a host 
of mortal combatants who are pledged never to retreat from the field. 
The wrongs of the slaves — the danger of keeping them longer in bond- 
age — the duty of giving them immediate freedom — are the topics of con- 
versation or discussion in all debating societies — in lyceums — in stages 
and steamboats — in pulpits and in periodicals — in the family circle, and 
between a man and his friend. The current of public sentiment is turn- 
ing, and soon it will roll a mighty river, sweeping away in its healthful 
and resistless career all the pollutions of slavery." 



29 

This prospectus is accompfinied by an anonymous 
communication, for Avliicli of course I cannot vouch, 
•wliicli states tlaat Dr. Clianuiug has softened the asper- 
ity of liis remarks on Thompson, the foreign Anti- 
Slavery missionary, in his late work on slavery ; that 
the work lias, in consequence, been stereotyped by the 
Abolitionists, and that the demand for it is insatiable. 

As the last evidence which I shall offer of the ex- 
tent of the excitement at the North upon the Slave 
question, I will read the following extracts from a let- 
ter from the western part of the State of New York. 
It is dated 12th January, 1836. The writer of it is a 
gentleman who has been a close and shrewd observer 
of events passing around him. He is a man of talents 
and of strict integrity, and is one who has done and 
suffered something for his country. He says : 

" The madness which influences our Northern people on the sul)ject 
of slavery, is well calculated to fill the stoutest with dismay. The spirit 
"wliich followed the Utica and Peterboro' Convention of Abolitionists has 
totally changed the question from that of the emancipation of the slave 
to that of the continuance of the Union. 

=1: :•: :i! :!: * * * :H 

"The North is now laboring to unite her people against you. The 
effort is immense and continual. The enclosed anti-slavery pamphlets 
and some 'Emancipators' were distributed at a Presbyterian prayer meet- 
ing in my neighborhood the other day, by the president of tlie anti-slavery 
society of this county, and were handed to me by the Deacon of the church, 
through the hands of one of the men in my employ. The object is to 
unite the ISTorthern people in hatred of the people of the South, by false 
representations of the condition of their slaves, and by charges of cruelty, 
immorality, and irreligion. I endeavor to convince my neighbors that 
these pamphlets are false in every particular, and that if they join in the 
cry of abolition, they must partake of the enormous sin of bringing on a 
civil war, of destroying our Union, and of causing a renewal of the hor- 
rors of St. Domingo. And for what do they labor to bring on their 
country and their fellow-citizens of tlie South these dreadful calamities ? 
It is for the liberty of the slave ; and in gaining that liberty, or in the at- 
tempt, they inevitably lose their own. But this view has no weight; the 



30 

eifort to free your slaves will be made ; and Confjress will be the ul- 
timate scene of f.lie struggle, Onr next elections •will mainly turn on this 
question, uiiless you settle it now and forever; that is, before this session 
expires. If you adjourn without so settling it, you will have to resort to 
the bayonet to adjust it." 

[Mr. Granger and Mr. Lee, of New York, demand- 
ed the name of the anthor. Mr. H. said, I cannot give 
it. I will vouch for his character. But such is the 
state of society around him, I fear it would prove 
dangerous, if not fatal to him, to disclose his name.] 

Mr. Speaker, I believe what I have just read. Sir, 
there can no longer be a doubt of the deep, pervading, 
uncontrollable excitement which shakes the anti-slave 
States on this subject, nor of the energy and power 
with which the Abolitionists are pressing their mad 
and fatal schemes. Every mail from the North brings 
fresh news of agitation, every breeze is tainted with 
it. It spreads like wild-fire in the prairies, and throws 
its red glare up to heaven, that all may see while it 
sweeps with resistless fury everything before it. I call 
on every slaveholder in this House, and in this coun- 
try, to mark its fearful progress and prepare to meet 
it. He who falters here or elsewhere, he who shrinks 
from taking the highest and the strongest ground at 
once, is a traitor ! A traitor to his native soil ! A 
traitor to the memory of those from whom he has in- 
heritedu his rights ! A traitor to his helpless offspring, 
who call upon him for protection ! And on his head 
be the blood which his treachery or cowardice may 
cause to flow. 

Allow me now, Sir, to examine more closely the 
real designs of those Abolitionists, the means by which 
they will attempt to effect them, and the probable 
es ult. Their designs are very succinctly stated in the 



31 

volume whicli I hold in my hand. It is a treatise on 
this subject entitled " Jay's luquiiy " — written by Wil- 
liam Jay, a judge, I believe, of the State of New York, 
and a son of the distinguished John Jay. More tban 
five thousand copies of this work, I am told, have been 
sold. He says, " the Society aimed at effecting the fol- 
loiving objects^ viz. : 

" 1st. The immediate Abolition of Slavery through- 
out the United States. 

" 2d. As a necessary consequence, the suppression 
of the American Slave-Trade. 

" 3d. The ultimate elevation of the black pojDula- 
tion to an equality wdth the white in civil and reli- 
gious privileges." — p. 141. 

Sir, the abolition of slavery can be expected to be 
effected in but three ways : through the medium of 
the slaveholder — or the Government — or the slaves 
themselves. 

I think I may say that any appeal to the slave- 
holders will be in vain. In the whole history of the 
question of Emancipation in Europe or America, I do 
not remember a dozen instances of masters freeinsf 
their slaves, at least during their own lifetime, from 
any qualms of conscience. If they are seized with 
these qualms, they usually sell their slaves first, and 
then give in their adhesion to the cause, as has been 
the case with many whom I could mention. 

The Abolitionist can appeal only to the hopes or 
fears or interest of the slaveholder to induce him to 
emancipate his slaves. So far as our hopes are con- 
cerned, I believe I can say we are perfectly satisfied. 
We have been born and bred in a slave-country. Our 
habits ai'e accommodated to them, and so far as we have 



32 

been able to observe other states of society abroad, we 
see notliing to invite us to excliauge our own ; but on 
the contrary, everything to induce us to prefer it 
above all others. 

As to our fears, I know it has been said by a dis- 
tinguished Virginian, and quoted on this floor, " that 
the fire-bell in Richmond never rings at night, but the 
mother presses her infant more closely to her breast 
in dread of servile insurrection." Sir, it is all a flourish. 
There may be nervous men and timid women, whose 
imairinations are haunted with unwonted fears amono: 
us, as there are in all communities on earth, but in no 
part of the world have men of ordinary firmness, less 
fear of danger from their operatives than we have. 
The fires which in a few years have desolated JSTorman- 
dy and. Aujou, the great machine-burning in the heart 
of England, the bloody and eternal struggles of the 
Irish Catholics, and the mobs which for some years 
past have figured in our Northern States, burning con- 
vents, tearing down houses, spreading dismay and ruin 
through their cities, and even taking life, are appro- 
priate illustrations of the peace and security of a com- 
munity whose laborers are all called free. On the 
other hand, during the two hundred years that slavery 
has existed in this country, there has, I believe, been 
but one serious insurrection, and that one very limited 
in its extent. 

The appeal, however, to our interest, is that which 
might appear to promise much success, for whatever it 
is the interest of a community to do, that (sooner or 
later) it will be sure to do. If you will look over the 
world, you will fi.nd that in all those countries where 
slavery has been found unprofitable, it has been abol- 



38 

islied. In northern latitudes, wliere no great agricul- 
tural staple is produced, and wliere care, skill, and a 
close economy enter largely into the elements of pro- 
duction, free labor has been found, more valuable than 
that of slaves. You will there find labor usually ex- 
ercised in small combinations under the immediate eye 
of a watchful and frugal master. I speak more par- 
ticularly of those who cultivate the soil; but the large 
masses of mechanical operatives who are brought 
together form no exception to the principle. They are 
classified. There is an accurate division of their labor ; 
each branch of it requires peculiar art, and in the 
higher departments a degree of skill must be attained, 
to produce which, stronger stimulants are necessary 
than can be ordinarily applied to slaves. 

In such countries the dominant classes have found 
it to their advantage to permit each individual to ac- 
cumulate for himself, and to deprive him of a portion 
of his earnings sufficient for their purposes through 
the operations of the government. Hence the partial 
emancipation of the serfs of the continent of Europe. 
Hence the abandonment of villeinage in England. 
And hence the emancipation of slaves in the free states 
of this Union. But in southern latitudes, where great 
agricultural staples are produced, and where not only 
a large combination of labor under the direction of 
one head is required, but it is also necessary that the 
connection between the operatives and that head should 
be absolute and indissoluble, domestic shivery is indis- 
pensable. To such a country it is as natural as the 
clime itself — as to the birds and beasts to which that 
climate is cons-enial. The camel loves the desert ; the 
reindeer seeks the everlasting snows ; the wild fowl 



34 

gather to tbe waters ; and the eagle wings his flight 
above the mountains. It is equally the order of Prov- 
idence that slavery sliould exist among a planting 
people, beneath a southern sun. There the laborer 
must become a fixture of the soil. His task is not from 
day to day, nor from month to month, but from season 
to season, and from year to year. He must be there 
to clear, to break up, to plant, to till, to gather, and 
to clear again ; and he must be kept there by a never- 
ceasing, unavoidable, and irresistible force. The system 
of " strihes " so universally j)ractised in all other kinds 
of labor would desolate a planting country in a few 
years. If, in the heat of the crop, when the loss of 
one or two days even may irreparably ruin it, the 
laborers were to abandon the fields and demand higher 
wao^es, the owner would have no other alternative 
than to say to them, " Work, and take enough to satis- 
fy yourselves" — which would, of course, be all. Sir, 
it is not the interest of the planters of the South to 
emancipate their slaves, and it never can be shown to 
be so. 

Slavery is said to be an evil ; that it impoverishes 
the people, and destroys their morals. If it be an 
evil, it is one to us alone, and we are contented with 
it — why should others interfere ? But it is no evil. 
On the contrary, I believe it to be the greatest of all 
the great blessings which a kind Providence has be- 
stowed upon our favored region. For without it, our 
fertile soil and our fructifying climate would have been 
given to us in vain. As it is, the history of the short 
period during which we have enjoyed it has rendered 
our Southern country proverbial for its wealth, its 
genius, and its manners. 



35 

Failing as the Abolitionists must do in every ap- 
peal to the slaveholder, let us see with what j)robabil- 
ity of success they can call upon the Government to 
emancipate our negroes. There are about 2.300,000 
slaves at this moment in tlie United States, and their 
annual increase is about 60,000. Sir, even the British 
Government did not dare to emancipate the slaves of 
its enslaved West India subjects without some com- 
pensation. They gave them about 60 per cent, of their 
value. It could scarcely be expected that this Govern- 
ment would undertake to free our slaves without pay- 
ing for them. Their value, at $400 average (and 
they are now worth more than that), would amount 
to upwards of nine hundred millions. The value of 
their annual increase, alone, is twenty-four millions of 
dollars ; so that to free them in one hundred years, 
without the expense of taking them from the country, 
would require an annual appropriation of between 
thirty-three and thirty -four millions of dollars. The 
thing is physically impossible. 

But it is impossible for another reason : the mo- 
ment this House undertakes to legislate upon this sub- 
ject, it dissolves the Union. Should it be my fortune 
to have a seat upon this floor, I will abandon it the 
instant the first decisive step is taken, looking towards 
legislation on this subject. I will go home to preach, 
and if I can, to practise disunion, and civil war, if needs 
be. A revolution must ensue, and. this Republic sink 
in blood. 

The only remaining chance for the Abolitionists to 
succeed in their nefarious schemes will be by appealing 
to the slaves themselves ; and, say what they will, this 
is the great object at which thev aim. For this are 



36 

all their meetings, publications, lectures, and missions ; 
to excite a servile insurrection, and, in the language of 
the miscreant Thompson, to " teach the slave to cut his 
master'' s throaty This will be no easy task. Sir, it is 
a proverb, that no human being is perfectly contented 
with his lot, and it may be true that some strolling 
emissary may extract, occasionally, complaints from 
Southern slaves and spread them before the world. 
But such instances are rare. As a class, I say it boldly, 
there is not a happier, more contented race upon the 
face of the earth than our slaves. I have been born 
and brought up in the midst of them, and so far as my 
knowledge and experience extend, I should say they 
have every reason to be happy. Lightly tasked, well 
clothed, well fed — far better than the free laborers of 
any country in the world, om* own and those perhaps 
of the other States of this confederacy alone excepted 
— their lives and persons protected by the law, all 
their sufferings alleviated by the kindest and most 
interested care, and their domestic affections cherished 
and maintained — at least so far as I have known, with 
conscientious delicacy. 

A gentleman from ^lassachusetts (Mr. Ada3is) has 
introduced upon this floor the abolition cant of wives 
and husbands, parents and children, torn from each 
other's arms, and separated forever. Such scenes but 
rarely, very rai-ely happen. I do not believe such 
separations are near so common among slaves, as di- 
vorces are among white persons where they can be 
with much facility obtained. I am very sure that 
children and parents do not so often part, as in the 
ordinary course of emigration in this country they do 
among the freest and proudest of our laud. Sir, our 



87 

slaves are a peaceful, kind hearted and affectionate 
race, satisfied with their lot, happy in tlieir comforts, 
and devoted to their masters. It will not be an easy 
thing to seduce them from their fidelity. But if Ly an 
artful and delusive appeal to his excited passions the 
Abolitionist should succeed in drawing the slave into 
his fiendish purposes, our never sleeping watchfulness 
would speedily detect every conspiracy that might be 
formed. Our habits in this respect have become a 
second instinct. Our vigilance is as prompt and per- 
sonal as our courage — as faithful a guardian, and not 
more troublesome. It does not arise from fear, but 
from the fact that we ourselves, to a great extent, 
constitute our own police, and in guarding against 
minor evils will not fail to discover every danger of 
great magnitude. Such has been and such will always 
be the case. Every insurrection which has yet been 
meditated, — and there have been but very few, — when 
not discovered by some faithful slave, has been soon 
discovered by the whites, the unfortunate occurence at 
Southampton only excepted — if that can be called an 
insurrection which was the bloody outbreaking of six 
drunken wretches. I believe that every appeal to the 
slave to assist, through the horrid process of burning 
and assassination, in his own emancipation, much as it 
is (in secret at least) cherished, will be without success. 
Sir, I feel firmly convinced that, under any 
circumstances, and by any means, emancipation, grad- 
ual or immediate, is impossible. We may be distm'bed 
in our comforts, harassed, injured, perhaps some par- 
tial sufferings may be the consequences of their mad 
and savage projects, but slavery can never be abolish- 
ed. The doom of Ham has been branded on the form 
3 



38 

and features of his African descendants. The hand of 
fate has united his color and his destiny. Man cannot 
separate what God hath joined. 

But, Mr. Speaker, admitting for a moment that 
the Abolitionist could accomplish all his objects. 
Suppose the bonds of the slave were broken peace- 
fully, and he was turned loose to choose his life and 
occupation on the face of the earth, what would prob- 
ably be his actual state ? Sir, we have some experi- 
ence on this subject. I hold in my hand a paper con- 
taining an account of the situation of a colony of free 
blacks in Brown county, in Ohio, which I ask permis- 
sion for the Clerk to read. 

ABOLITION. 

From the Cincinnati Gazette. 

" Some forty miles from Cinciunati, to the East, are two settlements 
of free negroes — probably near a thousand — men, women and children, of 
the true ebony color ; with a very little mixture of the mahogany or lighter 
shades. The negroes own the land occupied by them, but without the 
power to sell. Each family has a small farm. They are emancipated 
slaves, and these lands were purchased expressly for them, and parcelled 
out among them about fifteen years ago. 

" Their lands are not of the best quality of Ohio lands ; but, by good 
management could be made very good — they are particularly well adapted 
to grass, either meadow or pasture. 

" Having been formerly slaves and compelled to work, one would sup- 
pose they ought to have industrious habits. They have had every induce- 
ment to industry and good conduct held out to them. The experiment 
was to test the merits of the negro race under the most favorable circum- 
stances for success. 

" Has this experiment succeeded ? No it has not. In all Ohio, can 
any white settlement be found equally wretched, equally unproductive ? 

" Farms given to them fifteen years ago, instead of being well im- 
proved, and the timber preserved for farming, have been sadly managed — 
small, awkward clearings, and those not in grass, but exhausted and worn 
out in corn crops — the timber greatly destroyed — wretched log houses, 
with mud floors ; with chimneys of mud and wood — with little timber 
for further farming. 



39 

" Thoy are so excessively lazy and stupid, that the people of George- 
town (near by their camps) and the neighboring farmers will not employ 
them as work hands to any extent. They do not raise produce enough 
on their own lands to feed their families, much less do they have a surplus 
for sale abroad. They pass most of their time in their little sorry cabins ; 
too listless even to fiddle and dance. One may ride through the " negro 
camp," as they are called, passing a dozen straggling cabins with smoke 
issuing out of the ends, in the middle of clearings, without seeing a soul 
either at work or play. The fear of starvation makes them work the least 
possible quantity, while they are much too lazy to play. 

" Why do not the zealous Abolitionists go there and see the experi- 
ment in all its beauty — the slave changed into a free, but wretched sav- 
age I "Why not make something of these thousand negroes ? There are 
not more than two or three families out of the whole who are improved 
by the change from slavery to freedom. 

" The negro settlements are a dead weight upon Brown county, as to 
any productive benefit from the negro lands, or from negro labor ; and 
that space of country might as well, to this day, have remained in posses- 
sion of the Indians. 

"If Southern wealth can be applied to buy and colonize among us sucli 
a worthless population, what ftirmor in Ohio is safe ? lias he any guar- 
antee that a black colony will not be established in his neighborhood. 

" Let any one who wishes to learn the operation of emancipated 
negroes, visit the Brown county camps. As they sink in laziness, poverty 
and filth, they increase in numbers — their only produce is children. They 
want nothing but cowries to make them equal to the negroes of the Niger." 

Such, Sir, are the blessed fruits of Abolition ; and 
to make such miserable and degraded wretches as these 
are we called on to give up our happy, industrious, 
and useful slaves— to strike out of existence nine 
hundred millions of active and inestimable capital, and 
impoverish and desolate the fairest region of the 
globe ? But it is said that this is the dark side of the 
picture, and that emancipation — " gradual emancipa- 
tion," would produce far better consequences. Al- 
though I am perfectly satisfied that no human process 
can elevate the black man to an equality with the 
white — admitting that it could be done — are we pre- 
pared for the consequences which then must follow ? 



40 

Are the people of the north prepared to restore to 
them two-fifths of their rights of voters, and place their 
political power on an equality with their ov/n 1 Are 
we prepared to see them mingling in our legislation ? 
Is any portion of this country prepared to see them 
enter these halls and take their seats by our sides, in 
perfect equality with the white representatives of the 
Anglo-Saxon race — to see them fill that chair — to see 
them placed at the heads of your Departments ; or to 
see perhaps some Toussaint, or Boyer, grasp the Pres- 
idential wreath and wield the destinies of this great 
Kepublic ? From such a picture I turn with irrepress- 
ible disgust. 

But, Sir, no such consequences as either of these 
views exhibit can take place with us. There is no 
such thing as gradual emancipation, even if we were 
to consent to it. Those who know the negro character 
cannot doubt, what the recent experiments in the 
West Indies fully prove, that the first step you take 
towards emancipation bursts at once and forever the 
social ties of the slave. In our country, where the 
two classes of population are so nearly equal, such a 
state of things as now exists in Jamaica would not last 
a day — an hour. Sir, any species of emancipation 
with us would be followed instantly by chnl war be- 
tween the whites and the blacks. A bloody, exter- 
minating war, the result of which could not be doubt- 
ful, although it would be accompanied with horrors 
such as history has not recorded. The blacks would 
be annihilated, or once more subjugated and reduced 
to slavery. Such a catastrophe would be inevitable. 

Permit me now, Sir, for a moment to look into the 
causes of this vast and dangerous excitement, for it is 



41 

intimately connected with tlie true merits of this im- 
portant question. I am not disposed to attribute it to 
any peculiar feelings of hostility entertained by the 
North against the South, arising from position merely. 
It is indeed natural that a people not owning slaves 
should entertain a strong aversion to domestic servi- 
tude. It is natural that the descendants of the Pm"i- 
tans, without any deep investigation of the subject, 
should have an instinctive hostility to slavery in every 
shape. It is natural that foreigners, with whom the 
North is crowded — just released themselves from 
bondage — extravagant in their notions of the freedom 
of our institutions, and profoundly ignorant of the 
principles on which society and government are organ- 
ized — should view with horror the condition of the 
Southern operatives. And here let me say that these 
opinions, so natural, so strong, and so distinctly mark- 
ing the geographical divisions of our country, indicate 
differences which, if pushed much further, will inevi- 
tably separate us into two nations ; a separation 
which I should regard as a calamity to the w^hole 
human race, and which we of the South will endeavor 
to avert by every means save the sacrifice of our liber- 
ties, or the subversion of our domestic institutions. 

But other causes are at work. This excitement 
belongs to the spirit of the age. Every close observer 
must perceive that we are approaching, if we have not 
already reached, a new era in civilization. The man 
of the nineteenth century is not the man of the seven- 
teenth, and widely different from him of the eighteenth. 
Within the last sixty years there have been greater 
changes — not on the face of the earth, but in the his- 
tory of civilized man, than had taken place before, 



42 

perhaps, since the reign of Charlemagne. The progress 
and the philosophy of the events which have brought 
us to this state may be readily perceived and stated. 
Formerly all learning was confined to the clergy — all 
political power to the hereditary rulers of the people. 
The invention of printing dispersed knowledge among 
the middle classes. The clergy could no longer ab- 
sorb it all. The first effect of this was the destruction 
of ecclesiastical despotism, which was consummated by 
the Reformation. The next, a war of intelligence 
against political oppression. But the glittering temp- 
tations of power seduced it from its purposes — allured 
it to its assistance, and used its energies to rivet more 
closely their chains upon the people. At length, 
Government could no longer absorb all the talents and 
acquirements and ambition of the world. Then the 
eftects of the contest beo-an to show themselves. The 
tremendous conflicts for political ascendancy which 
took place in the British Parliament during the reign 
of George the Second, were followed by the American 
Revolution, which was initiated by the great intellects 
of this country, whom the mother government could 
neither conciliate to its abuses, nor purchase, nor in- 
timidate. Next came that terrible tragedy, the French 
Revolution, which was confessedly l)rought about by 
the writings of the great philosophers of France. Since 
that period, man appears no longer to be the being 
that he was. His moral nature seems to have been 
changed as by some sudden revelation from the lips 
of the Almighty ; although the close observer sees that 
the great cause which had been so long and so silent- 
ly, but surely working to effect this purpose, was the 
wide increase of knowledge. Bursting from the tram- 



43 

mels of centuries of ignorance and slotli, he has been 
pressing onward for good and evil, with an energy 
tremendous and terrific. All nature has felt the im- 
pulse. The thin air has been converted into a resist- 
less power. Steam, whose every definition was an 
useless vapor, has Ijeen made the most tremendous 
engine which has ever yet been placed in human hanc^s 
— overcoming in its infancy time, space, and resistance 
with a celerity and ease just not supernatural. Rail- 
roads have been thrown over swamps, rivers, lakes and 
mountains, which, connecting new and distant points, 
open vast channels for intercourse and commerce. 
Labor-saving machinery of every kind has been incal- 
culably improved : much of it perfected. In one word, 
we have reached a period when physical impossibilities 
are no longer spoken of What was visionary yester- 
day, is planned, estimated and resolved upon to-day 
— to-morrow it is put in execution, and the third day 
superseded by something more wonderful and more 
important still. 

During the period of this mighty change, the great 
struggle between the rulers and the ruled has been 
carried on with corresponding vigor ; through the thou- 
sand channels which genius has opened, wealth has 
flown in to aid it in its contest with the strong arm of 
power. The two combined, finding themselves still 
unable to cope with the time-hardened strength of here- 
ditary government, and eager, impatient, almost frenzied 
to achieve its conquest, have called in to their assistance 
another ally — the lyeople. Not the " people " as we 
have hitherto been accustomed in this country to define 
that term, but the mob — the sans-cullottes. Pro- 
claimina: as their watchword that now prostituted sen- 



44 

liment "that all men are born free and equal," they 
have rallied to their standard the isrnorant, uneducated, 
semi-barbarous mass which swarms and starves upon 
the face of Europe ! Unnatural and debasing union ! 
Hereditary institutions are gone. Already have the 
nobility of France been overthrown. Their days are 
numbered in the British Empire. Let them go, I 
am not their advocate. What next? Confiscation 
has hegun! The result is as obvious as if it were writ- 
ten on the wall. The hounds of Acteon turned upon 
their master. Genius and wealth, stimulated by " an 
ambition that o'erleaps itself," have called these spirits 
from the vasty deep ; but they will down no more. 
The spoils of victory are theirs, and they will gorge 
and batten on them. 

In this country we have no heriditary institutions 
to attract the first fury of this tempest, which is also 
brewing here, for the electric fluid has crossed the 
ocean, and the elements denote that it is expanding 
over the northern arch of our horizon. The question 
of Emancipation, which in Europe is only a collateral 
issue, a mere ramification of the great controversy be- 
tween hereditary powder and ultimate agrarianism, has 
become with us the first and most important question ; 
partly because the levellers here have not yet felt the 
heavy pressure of political oppression, and partly be- 
cause they have regarded our institutions of slavery as 
most assimilated to an aristocracy. In this they are 
right. I accept the terms. It is a government of the 
best, combining all the advantages, and possessing but 
few of the disadvantages of the aristocracy of the old 
world. Without fostering: to an unwarrantable extent 
the pride, the exclusiveuess, the selfishness, the thirst 



45 

for sway, the contempt for the right of others, wliich 
distinguish the nobility of Europe — it gives ns tlieir 
education, their polish, their munificence, their high 
honor, their undaunted spirit. Slavery does indeed 
create an aristocracy — an aristocracy of talents, of vir- 
tue, of generosity and courage. In a slave country 
every freeman is an aristocrat. Be he rich or poor, if 
he does not possess a single slave, he has l)een Ijorn to 
all the natural advantages of the society in which he is 
placed and all its honors lie open before him, inviting 
his genius and industry. Sir, I do firmly believe that 
domestic slavery regulated as ours is produces the 
highest toned, the purest, best organization of society 
that has ever existed on the face of the earth. 

Against this institution war has been commenced. 
A crusade is proclaimed. The banner has been hoisted, 
and on it is inscribed that visionary and disastrous sen- 
timent, "Equality to all mankind;" although there is 
no analogous equality in the moral or physical creation, 
in earth, air, or water — in this world, or in the world 
to come, if our religion be not altogether wrong ! The 
sans-culottes are moving. On the banks of the Hud- 
son, the Ohio and the Susquehannah — on the hills, and 
in the vales, and along the " iron-bound coast " of im- 
maculate New England, they are mustering their hosts 
and preparing for their ravages. Let them come ! we 
will be ready. Standing on our institutions, which of 
themselves give us a strength almost impregnable, and 
rallying around them as one man, with the help of 
God I believe we shall be able to roll back the frantic 
tide to whence it came. But woe unto the men of 
substance in the North whose infatuation may impel 
them to join this fatal crusade. The bloodhounds 



46 

they are setting upon us, successful or unsuccessful, 
will in clue time come back from the chase ; and come 
hack to wring from them the accumulations of their in- 
dustry, to overturn their altars and desolate their house- 
hold. 

Mr. Speaker, I have touched on topics to-day which 
have not heretofore been broached within these walls. 
In thus departing from the usual silence of the South 
upon this subject, it may be thought that I have gone 
too far. But times have changed. They change before 
our eyes with the rapidity of thought. Painful as it 
is, the truth should now be told, for shortly it will 
speak itself, and in a voice of thunder. We cannot, 
in my judgment, avoid this danger longer, by closing 
our eyes upon it and lulling our people into a false se- 
curity. Nor can we justify ourselves before the world 
for the course which we may be compelled to take in 
order to maintain our rights, without boldly declaring 
what those rights are, defining them and showing that 
they are inestimable. All minor considerations must 
give way to effect those all important objects. These 
have been my motives for the course I have taken 
here. I leave it to the approaching crisis to determine 
whether I am rig^ht or wronof. 

Sir, if I were asked what it is, under existing cir- 
cumstances, the South desires the North to do, I should 
say, " Pass laws in your different States forbidding, by 
the severest penalties, the publication or circulation of 
such incendiary pamphlets as I have exhibited here 
to-day." This your Legislatures are fully competent 
to do without infringing on freedom of speech, or free- 
dom of the press. That freedom means well-regulated, 
legal freedom, and not unrestrained licentiousness. 



47 

Have you not laws to punish libel and slander ? If a 
citizen of the State of New York were to say of another 
citizen that he was a "land pirate," "a murderer," and 
a " man-steal er," would he not be liable to an action of 
slander ? If he were to write these things of him, or 
caricature him by infamous and disgusting pictorial 
representations, would he not be indictable for libel ? 
What violation, then, of social or constitutional right, 
would it be to extend the benefit of these same laws 
to us ? 

We ask nothing more than the recognition of a 
well-known principle of international law, a striking 
illustration of which has happened within the memory 
of many who now hear me. It will be recollected 
that just before the war between France and England, 
which broke out in 1803, the English presses teemed 
with abuse of the First ConsuL Bonaparte complained 
to the English Ministers. They indicted Peltier, tried, 
and convicted him. The declaration of war only pre- 
vented him from receiving his punishment. If England, 
where there have been more battles fought for the 
liberty of speech, and of the press, than in any portion 
of the world, felt herself bound to indict a journalist 
for libelling her greatest enemy, the enemy, as she 
deemed, of the whole human race, on the very eve of 
war with him, is it unreasonable to require you to ex- 
tend the same justice to the grossly slandered and 
deeply injured people of the South ; brethren as you 
call us of one great confederacy, devoted to the same 
great principles of constitutional liberty, and who have 
so often mingled our blood with yours, on the same 
glorious battle field? 

Sir, I cannot believe gentlemen are sincere when 



48 

tliey urge here tliis slang about the right of petition, 
and the freedom of speech and of the pi-ess, as though 
any one here had the remotest desire to curtail them. 
When Tappan and Garrison, and Gerrit Smith, and 
such as they are, use this cant, I understand them : 
they wish to inflame the popular passions by false ap- 
peals to popular rights. But when such men as the 
gentlemen from Massachusetts (Messrs. Adams and 
Gushing), and the gentleman from New York (Mr. 
Granger), who fevored us the other day with eulogiums 
on certain Abolitionists, introduce it on this floor, I do 
not — yes, I do understand them. But I will not press 
that point, for I wish to connect this question with no 
political intrigues or discussions. 

I will say frankly that I do not believe we shall be 
able to obtain the passage of such laws as I have allud- 
ed to in any non-slaveholding States. Sir, there is not 
a man of any note, or at least of any political aspiration, 
who will dare to make such propositions. He would 
be prostrated, and forever. He would, be covered with 
a mountain of public odium under which he could 
never rise again. And I want no stronger evidence of 
the true state of public sentiment in those States than 
this single fact. 

What, Sir, does the South ask next ? She asks, and 
this at least she has a right to demand, that these pe- 
titions be not received here and recorded on your jour- 
nals. This House at least ought to be a sanctuary, into 
which no such topic should be allowed to enter. Eep- 
resentatives from every section of the Eepublic ought 
to be permitted to come here faithfully to perform 
their duties to their constituents and their country, 
without being subjected to these incendiarv attacks — 



their feelinofs insulted, their riahts assaiilteil, and the 
falsest calumnies of themselves and those they repre- 
sent thrown on them dailv, and perpetuated to their 
posterity, and all the world, among the archives of 
the Union. Is this demanding anything unreasonable, 
unjust, unkind? Sir, we cannot endure it. If these 
things are to be permited here you drive us from your 
councils. Let the consequences rest on you. 

But, Mr. Speaker, even if this House should refuse 
to receive these petitions, I am not one of those who 
permits himself to trust that the conflict will be at an 
end. No, sir, we shall still have to meet it elsewhere. 
We will meet it. It is our inevitable destiny to meet 
it in whatever shape it comes, or to whatever extrem- 
ity it may go. Our State Legislatures will have to 
pass laws regulating our police with a strict hand. 
They will have to pass and to enforce laws prohibiting 
the circulation of incendiary pamphlets through the 
mail within their limits. We may have to adopt an 
entire non-intercourse with the free States, and finally. 
Sir, we may have to dissolve this Union. From none 
of these measures can we shrink as circumstances may 
make them necessary. Our last thought will be to 
give up our Institutions. We were born and bred 
under them, and will maintain them or die in their 
defence. And I warn the Abolitionists, ignorant, in- 
fatuated barbarians as they are, that if chance shall 
throw any of them into our hands he may expect a 
felon's death. No human law, no human influence 
can arrest his tate. The superhuman instinct of self- 
preservation, the indignant feelings of an outraged 
people, to whose hearth-stones he is seeking to carry 
death and desolation, pronounce his doom ; and if we 



50 



failed to accord to him ignominious death, we should 
be unworthy of the forms we wear, unworthy of the 
beings whom it is our duty to protect, and we should 
merit and expect the indignation of offended Heaven. 



MESSAGE 

TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OP REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE 
OP SOUTH CAROLINA, NOV. 28, 1843. 

Executive Department, } 
Columbia, Mv. 28, 1843. ^ 

Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives : 

SnfCE your adjournment the late long continued 
depression of financial affairs throughout the world 
has reached and passed what we have much reason to 
believe was its final crisis. During the last Spring 
prices of every description fell to the lowest point ever 
known, but have since continued steadily, though grad- 
ually, to advance. The revival of business has not 
been the effect of accidental causes, or speculative ope- 
rations, or expansion of the paper currency ; nor is it 
owing to any act of legislation in any part of the 
world, favorable to trade. It has been the natural 
result of industry, economy, and time, which have 
swept off a large proportion of the embarrassments 
created by the disasters of the past, and accumulated 
at all the great commercial points, in safe hands, a vast 
and unexampled amount of sound metallic capital. 
We have, therefore, good reason to indulge the hope 



52 

that it will be permanent, and to felicitate ourselves 
on the dawn of a new era in trade and finance. 

There is but one serious obstacle, now apparent, 
that can arrest and roll back, in any short period, the 
returning tide of our prosperity ; and that is, the nar- 
row and delusive idea, which still seems to prevail 
with a majority of those who rule the world, that they 
can promote the interests of their respective countries, 
by fettering trade and building up monopolies. Until 
we seriously approximate to universal Free Trade — to 
an unrestricted exchange of the surplus production of 
one country for the surplus of another, by which 
means, the wants of all will be supplied in the cheapest 
manner, and commerce, currency, and credit are estab- 
lished in natural and enduring channels, the periodical 
recurrence of speculations, fluctuations and disasters 
that will convulse the world, must be looked for with 
perfect certainty. 

It is a matter for congratulation, that England, the 
source and centre, from which have directly or indi- 
rectly sjDrung nearly all the great improvements of 
modern times, has given evidence of a serious change 
on this great question. Her recent legislation has been 
decidedly directed towards a relaxation of her prohib- 
itory and protective laws. It is to be regretted, at 
the same time, that nearly every other important 
power in Europe, has wdthin a few years past, in its 
convulsive eiforts to throw off the embarrassments of 
the time, increased restrictions upon trade. Whilst 
our own government, recurring to that policy which is 
every where els6 regarded as one of the most odious 
features of aristocratic and despotic power, and held 
in abhorrence by the people, has re-enacted its tariff 



53 

laws, and made them more rigorous and oppressive 
than they have ever been before. That a government 
like ours, purporting to be based on perfect freedom 
and equality, should perpetrate such laws ; and that a 
people so intelligent as ours — so distrustful of their 
rulers — so ready to resist injustice and oppression — 
four-fifths of whom are agriculturists, all deeply injured 
by restrictions upon foreign commerce — should permit 
such an execrable system to be fastened on them, is 
one of the most extraordinary events in the history of 
the age. To the enlightened views so rapidly gaining 
ground among those who control the English govern- 
ment — to the progress of true knowledge among the 
other States of Europe, and to the change of power 
into other hands which is just about to be realized in 
our country, I look with confidence for a vast amelio- 
ration and early abandonment of the whole system of 
protective duties. 

In the meantime it should be borne constantly in 
mind, that any departure from the great principles of 
industry and economy, and a steady faith that with the 
practice of these two cardinal virtues time will do the 
rest, 'must be attended with the most serious conse- 
quences to our future welfare. And perhaps no occa- 
sion could be more auspicious than the present for 
you to institute a close and searching examination into 
the precise condition of our State, in all its depart- 
ments, and introduce such alterations and reforms as 
will enable her to take the tide of prosperity to most 
advantage, and maintain it longest. 

Her financial condition claims, perhaps, at this 
especial moment, your fii'st attention. The public debt 



54 



of the State may be put down in round numbers at 
three millions and a half of dollars ($3,500,000). 

The foUoioing is a correct Statement of the items ^ viz. : 

Object of the loan. 



Date. 


Amount out- 


Rate of in- 


When relm- 


standing. 


terest. 


bursahle. 


1794-5 


$193,501 85 


3 per cent. 


At will 


1824 


250,000 00 


5 


J anuary 1845 


1826 


300,000 00 


5 


1846 


(I 


10,000 00 


6 


1860 


1838 


141,662 50 


5 


1S58 


" 


1,035.555 55 


5 


1860 


" 


964,444 44 6 


1870 


1839 


200,000 00 6 


1S48 


" 


200,000 00 6 


1850 


" 


200,000 00 6 


1852 




$3,495,164 35 


1 





Payment of Revolutionary claims. 
Internal improvements. 

Do. do. 

Benefit of Mrs. Randolph. 
Subscription to S. Western R. R. Bank. 
Rebuilding city of Charleston. 

Do. do. do. 

Loans and subs'tion to L. C. &. C. R. R. Co. 

Do. do. do. do. 

Do. do. do. do. 



$1,051,422 00 — Amount of surplus revenue deposited -with the State by the U. S. 
2,000,000 00— Amount of loan by the L. C. & C. R. R., guaranteed by the State. 

It is highly probable the State will never be called 
on to refund the surplus revenue, though her liability 
for it should never be forgotten, in an estimate of her 
debt. It is to be hoj^ed that her guarantee of the 
railroad bonds is only nominal, and that in due season 
they will l)e discharged by the railroad company. I 
therefore deduct these items in stating the public debt, 
for which certain and early provision must be made, at 
three millions and a half 

It will be perceived that the payments of this debt 
run through a period of twenty -six years, and that the 
heaviest instalments are the last. Admitting that the 
State will punctually discharge it as it falls due, with- 
out creating another, it is yet a serious question whether 
she should not use every effort in her power to discharge 
it earlier. A public debt is no longer regarded any- 
where as a public blessing, and such a mass of it, hang- 
ing over her for such a period, must press heavily upon 
the enterprise and resources of the State. 

I feel called on, however, to declare, that I do not 
believe the debt will be paid even as it falls due, with- 



55 

out creating a fresh one in lieu of it, or a large portion 
of it, unless important changes are made in the financial 
arrangements of tlie State. And as these changes 
might, if effected at all, be so made as to discharge it 
at a much earlier period, it seems to me the wisest 
policy to relieve the people as speedily as possible of 
this immense pressure. The debt can be hona fide paid 
only by levying taxes to the amount of it, or by using 
the funds of the State already in existence. Although 
I have not the least doubt that the people would, with- 
out a murmur, submit to be taxed to any amount, rather 
than that the slightest imputation should rest upon 
the good faith of the State ; yet while there exists any 
other means of meeting her obligations, I presume no 
one will j)ropose to resort to onerous taxation. The 
alternative is to use the funds of the State now com- 
mitted to the management of the bank. 

The idea has been often, and recently gravely, put 
forth, that the bank would pay the debt as it became 
due, out of the profits arising from the operations of 
banking. To show the fallacy of such an idea, it is 
only necessary to compare the interest on the debt with 
the profits of the bank. The interest amounts at this 
time to one hundred and eighty-six thousand, six hun- 
dred and thirty-one dollars and ninety-six cents 
($186,631 96) per annum, exclusive of expenses, which 
must raise the expenditure for this purpose to at least 
one hundred and ninety thousand dollars ($190,000) 
annually. The net profits of the bank, for the fiscal 
year of 1842, were reported at two hundred and ten 
thousand, seven hundred and sixty-nine dollars and 
forty-two cents ($210,769 42), leaving a balance of 
twenty thousand seven hundred and sixty nine dollars 



56 

and forty-two cents ($20,Y69 42). The net profits of 
the last fiscal year amounted to two hundred and 
twenty-six thousand, seven hundred and thirty-two 
dollars and seventeen cents ($226,732 IT), leaving a 
balance in favor of the bank, of thirty-six thousand, 
seven hundred and thirty-two dollars and seventeen 
cents ($36,732 17). It is obvious that an annual 
accumulation to the amount of the lar2:est of these 
sums, would not discharge the debt in much less than 
a century. Nor is there any just ground for anticipat- 
ing a great increase of profits for the future. The 
period for immense returns from banking operations 
has passed away and, it is to be hoped, forever. Such 
is especially the case with this bank, since the monop- 
oly which it so long enjoyed in this State has ceased, 
by the incoi'poration of other banks, and cannot be 
revived again. 

It is also said that the State has received and still 
retains equivalents for a large proportion of her debt 
which can be converted at the proper time for paying 
it. She possesses eight thousand (8,000) shares of 
railroad and railroad bank stock, which it is gratifying 
to state is rising rapidly in value and, it is to be hoped 
will one day be worth to her the eight hundred thou- 
sand dollars ($800,000) which it cost. She holds also 
the obligation of the railroad company for upward of 
$400,000 more, which is doubtless perfectly secure. 
But these investments could hardly be made available 
to meet a crisis and, unless converted very gradually, 
can only be done at a heavy loss. Nor do the small 
dividends declared materially assist in paying the 
interest of the stock issued to make them. For the 
rest — the sinking fund, the fire loan, and the surplus 



57 

revenue — they are all hmiked on^ and, althougb separate 
accounts are kept of them in the bank books, they are 
as essentially a part of the bank capital as the com- 
paratively small portion which is acknowledged to be 
such. They have been loaned out, and to be used to 
pay the public debt, must, like other discounts, be 
collected from the debtors of the bank. In short, 
what are supposed to be equivalents for the State debt, 
are securities of no higher value than those in which 
all the other funds of the State have been invested by 
the bank, nor are they more readily convertible into 
money, and the interest on them is now included in the 
annual return of the bank. 

It is said again, that one million ($1,000,000) of our 
internal improvement debt has been redeemed, and 
this is taken as proof of the capacity of the bank to 
redeem the whole debt. It is true, that one million 
has been paid, but it has been made the pretext for 
issuing stock to the amount of one million seven hun- 
dred and six thousand, one hundred and six dollars, 
and ninety-four cents ($1,706,106 94), thus actually 
increasing the public debt seven hundred thousand 
dollars, instead of diminishing it. 

This can be readily made to appear. In a moment 
of generous enthusiasm, worthy of the character of 
the State and her citizens, a bill was passed at an extra 
session in 1838, almost by universal consent, to borrow 
two millions of dollars ($2,000,000) for rebuilding the 
City of Charleston, after the calamitous fire of that 
year. Of this amount, one million and thirty-five 
thousand, five hundred and fifty-five dollars and fifty-five 
cents ($1,035,555 55), was obtained in London, on 5 
per cent, bonds. This was loaned to the citizens of 



58 

Charleston for building purposes, and supplied all their 
wants. Faith and justice to the people of State re- 
quired that the balance of the bonds not sold for the 
purpose for which they were issued, and not wanted 
for it, should have been destroyed. The bank, how- 
ever, obtained the Governor's consent to raise thera 
to 6 per cent, bonds, to the amount of nine hundred 
and sixty-four thousand, four hundred and forty-four 
dollars and forty-four cents ($964,444 44), and took pos- 
session of them as a loan from the State to itself, and 
merely charged itself debtor to the State in that 
amount on the books of the bank, though, it still con- 
tinues to report the whole two millions as the " Fire 
Loan." The pretext for this, was to pay the instal- 
ments of the debt of eight hundred thousand dollars 
($800,000) which fell due in 1840; and of two hun- 
dred thousand dollars ($200,000) wliich fell due in 
1842. And on that ground the Legislature afterward, 
in 1841, sanctioned the conduct of the bank, by laying 
on the table a resolution to cancel this remainder of 
the Fire Loan Bonds. But this was not all. At the 
regular session, in December, 1838, the Legislature 
passed an Act confirming the subscription of the Gov- 
ernor to the Rail Road Bank and authorizing the 
Comptroller General to pay it by drafts upon the 
Bank of the State, or by an issue of 5 per cent., in 
case the President and Directors of the Bank found it 
embarrassing to advance the funds. Although the 
Sinking Fund at that time amounted to eight hundred 
and twenty-four thousand dollars ($824,000), and the 
Surplus Revenue to nine hundred and fifty-one thou- 
sand dollars ($951,000), and the large balance of the Fire 
Loan Bonds before mentioned was absorbed by the 



59 

Bank during tlie current fiscal year, the 5 per cent, 
stock was issued to the amount of two hundred thou- 
sand dollars ($200,000), though afterwards reduced 
to one hundred and forty-one thousand, six hundred 
and sixty-two dollars and fifty cents ($141,662 50). 
And again, at the Session of 1839, the Legislature 
transferred to the Sinking Fund, to aid in the liquida- 
tion of the public debt, six hundred thousand dollars 
($600,000) of the Surplus Revenue, which had been 
pledged to the payment of the subscription of the 
State to the E-ail Road Company, and issued for that 
purpose the same amount of 6 per cent, stock. The 
operation in both these instances was precisely the 
same as if these stocks had been created to pay the 
public debt, the appropriate funds in the Bank being 
withheld on that account. Thus, in the whole, was 
seventeen hundred thousand dollars borrowed to pay 
the one million of internal improvement bonds ; and 
that at a period when the Sinking Fund and Surplus 
Revenue — funds specially applicable to such a pur- 
pose exceeded not only the debt paid, but even the 
enormous sum borrowed, and would have covered both 
the instalments of the debt and the subscription to 
the Rail Road Company and Bank, had they been so 
applied. If the history of the past is to furnish any 
criterion by which to judge of the future, I fear that 
whenever an instalment of the public debt becomes 
due, some scheme will be devised to induce the Legis- 
lature to issue new stock to redeem it ; and if at every 
payment the whole, and seventy per cent, more than 
is paid, is borrowed, it requires no gift of prophecy to 
foresee that this process of redemption will overwhelm 
the State in debt. I fear, too, that it may be con- 



60 

sidered as certain that the bank will never, unless 
forced to do it, part witli a dollar of its capital, or of 
the funds used as capital, to pay any portion of the prin- 
cipal of the debt. To diminish its funds would be to 
curtail its power and influence; and though history 
does record some rare instances of men — excep- 
tions to the general rule — who have voluntarily re- 
signed power, I do not remember a single one of a 
corporation of any kind having done it. 

Being fully assured that the bank can never pay 
the public debt by the profits arising from its opera- 
tions, and being equally convinced that it never will, 
voluntarily, pay any part of it out of its capital, I sug- 
gest to you the propriety of requiring it, under penalty 
of forfeiting its charter, to purchase annually, and at 
some period in each year to cancel, in the presence of 
the Comptroller General, State Bonds to the amount 
of five hundred thousand dollars, besides paying the 
interest on the balance. By such an arrangement the 
whole debt would be paid in seven, instead of twenty- 
six years. 

It may be doubted by some, whether the bank will 
be able to withdraw so large a sum from her debtors 
annually, without producing great distress in the State. 
It might be answered, that according to its own report, 
the bank collected and paid out, during the single fiscal 
year of 1840, upwards of twelve hundred thousand 
dollars ; and the pressure on the money market at that 
time was incomparably heavier than it now is, or is 
likely soon to be. There could not, in fact, be a more 
favorable juncture than the present, to commence the 
operation I suggest. Money is abundant among capi- 
talists, interest extremely low, and safe investments 



61 

scarce ; and a season of prosperity is evidently about to 
open on us. 

I think, however, it can be made manifest, that 
these purchases can be effected without serious incon- 
venience to any class of the bank's debtors. There is 
now, and is usually due the bank on notes discounted, 
over two millions of dollars ($2,000,000). The Bonded 
Debt exceeds six hundred thousand dollars ($600,000). 
The Suspended Debt, and Debt in Suit, amount to 
upwards of four hundred thousand dollars ($400,000), 
and the Fire Loan discounts to above a million of dollars 
($1,000,000), making an aggregate amount now due the 
bank, of more than four millions of dollars ($4,000,000). 
With its specie and other funds, including its invest- 
ments in other than State Stocks, and five hundred 
thousand dollars ($500,000) of these debts, it should be 
fully able to redeem its circulation and deposits, and 
pay all other demands upon it at any time — leaving 
three and a half millions applicable to the public debt. 
Besides this, the bank owns, or did own on the 30th 
Sept. last, upwards of four hundred and fifty thousand 
dollars ($450,000) in stock of this State. This stock, 
with only fifty thousand dollars invested in the same 
way, might constitute the redemption of the first year ; 
and for that period no debtor need be disturbed. It 
is understood that one million of the amount of Notes 
Discounted, consists of accommodation paper, at short 
dates. These accommodations might be curtailed during 
the second and third years without inconvenience to the 
customers of the bank, who could readily obtain dis- 
counts elsewhere in the present redundant condition of 
the Bank Capital in this State. In the mean time the 
Fire Loan Discounts would be falling due to a con- 



62 

siderable amount, and if, after three years' notice, the 
debtors on Stationary Discounts and Bonds could not 
be prepared to liquidate their liabilities at the rate of 
twenty-five per cent, per annum, a longer indulgence 
would not only be unsafe, but extremely unwise. 

Whenever it has been heretofore suggested that 
the bank should curtail its discounts, or call in its debts, 
the reply has been promptly made that the planters will 
be distressed, and that this is a planters' bank. When 
a planter borrows money, it is almost always for specu- 
lation, or to pay the losses of speculation, or of profli- 
gate self-indulgence. He never needs a loan to carry 
on his legitimate planting operations; and when he 
becomes a borrower, even if it be to hold his produce, 
or to purchase lands and laborers, he becomes as much 
a speculator as the merchant or broker, and is entitled 
to no more indulgence. The only bank which could 
really benefit the planters would be a Savings Bank, 
where the cash balances from their crops might be 
deposited on interest until required. 

It will probably be said that the scheme I have 
proposed for paying the Public Debt will virtually 
throw the bank into a state of liquidation. Not so, 
however. Its present actual capital amounts to four 
millions of dollars ($4,000,000)— the debt to three 
millions and a half ($3,500,000), which, if paid, will 
leave the handsome sum of five hundred thousand 
dollars ($500,000) for banking purposes. To this 
might be added the shares of the State in the Rail 
Road Company and Bank, and also their obligation. 
This would raise the nominal capital to one million, 
seven hundred thousand ($1,700,000), and would give 
it one intrinsically worth considerably more than 



63 

its present acknowledged, permanent capital, which, 
amounts to only eleven hundred and fifty -six thousand, 
three hundred and forty-eight dollars and forty-eight 
cents ($1,156,348 48). 

But even if the operation of paying the Public Debt 
should absorb the Bank entirely, it would, in my 
opinion, constitute no objection to the scheme. The 
State would get rid of two evils at once. It is at least 
a question whether all banks are not evils. That a 
bank operating like ours exclusively on the funds and 
credit of the State is, seems to be generally conceded. 
The best proof of it is, that almost all other banks so 
framed, save ours, have failed — producing incalulable 
embarrasment and suffering. An equally clear proof 
of the opinion of the people of this State, is the unex- 
ampled unanimity with which they have, for several 
years past, waged an unremitted warfare against the 
establishment of a similar, and not more objectionable 
institution, by the Federal Clovernment. That our 
bank has neither failed nor produced any great political 
crisis, is owing to our extreme good fortune, in having 
always had at its head men of the highest character 
and uncommon ability. Its other officers and directors^ 
too, have been, almost without exception, gentlemen of 
intelligence and strict integrity. The character of the 
people of our State is also opposed to extensive sj^ecu- 
lations, and perhaps nowhere in the world is a default 
in a public trust regarded with such universal and utter 
abhorrence. All these necessary elements of past 
success cannot be expected to co-exist forevei-. As 
men, we may be permitted to indulge the hope that 
they may ; as Legislators, you would be forgetful of 
history and human nature to calculate upon it. Was 



64 

it now au original question, few voices I apprehend 
would be found in favor of a bank of the State. 
Having run a career of thirty years, might it not be 
wise to apply at this time an active and searching test 
to its success and soundness ? I have not the slightest 
reason to doubt its present soundness. But too much 
depends upon the fact, to admit of much longer delay 
in ascertaining it beyond all question. Nor is it a 
matter for less grave consideration, whether the State 
is to borrow money forever, in order to loan it out at 
the same, or nearly the same rates of interest, subject 
to all the expenses, fluctuations and disasters of bank- 
ing — a business which of all others has proved the most 
uncertain and ruinous to States and individuals. 

The strongest objection that I see to the plan I 
have suggested for the speedy payment of the public 
debt, is the doubt whether the State stock can be 
purchased at such amounts at par. Within the next 
seven years, however, nine hundred and sixty thousand 
dollars ($960,000) of debt will be redeemable, at par. 
Of the stock now held by the bank, there was, on the 
30th of September, certainly sixty-four thousand dol- 
lars ($64,000), perhaps more, not redeemable within 
that time, but already obtained at par. A million 
more, redeemable in 1860, is held in Europe, and is 
there quoted below par ; though it is matter of pride 
for us to know that it stands higher than the stock of 
any other State, save one. In the present condition of 
American credit abroad, this stock might probably be 
purchased at par. Could so much be obtained, four- 
sevenths of the debt would be extinguished, and time 
and circumstances might place the balance within reach. 
On most of these stocks the State obtained a premium, 



65 

and it would not be unfair for her to pay a similar one 
to redeem them. 

Should the attempt to purchase all the debt, how- 
ever, fail, the next best that could be done, short of 
actual payment, would be to shift the balance of it on 
the other States of the Union, by purchasing the stocks 
of such as are undoubtedly sound and faithful to their 
engagements. It is probable that an abundance of 
such stocks may be obtained at any time, within 
the next seven years, below or at par. And provision 
might be made for procuring them instead of our own 
stock, if jit rises much above par. 

If the scheme I have recommended for paying the 
debt of the State should not meet your approbation, it 
seems to me important that you should at least make 
arrangements for a Sinking Fund, in fact, as well as in 
name. The fund now distinguished by that name 
does not differ practically, in the slightest respect, 
from any portion of the bank capital. It is kept as a 
separate item in the books of the bank ; the surplus 
profits are nominally turned over to it, and the interest 
of the State debt subtracted from it. But to keep up 
this distinction is all unnecessary labor, since the whole 
fund is loaned out precisely on the same terms as the 
other bank funds. The fundamental principle of a 
real Sinking Fund is compounding interest for a special 
purpose. It should be set apart, its dividends re- 
invested as they are declared, and the whole of it 
sacredly pledged for the redemption of the principal 
of the debt ; the interest being paid in the mean time 
from other resources. It is manifest that a Sinking 
Fund, which is expected to pay both the principal and 
interest of the debt, must be as large as the debt itself. 



66 

or far more profitably invested. Our Sinking Fund 
amounts at present to little over one-fifth of the State 
debt, and if you do not think proper to pay the debt 
as I have proposed, I suggest the expediency of with- 
drawing that fund from the bank, and with it the two 
hundred thousand dollars of surplus revenue still on 
deposit there ; that the whole amount be placed in the 
hands of commissioners, to be invested, and made to 
accumulate by compound interest for the discharge of 
the principal of the public debt, not including any 
instalments due within the next seven years, unless 
rendered absolutely necessary from the want of other 
means ; and that, in the mean time, the bank shall be 
required to pay the interest on the whole debt, and 
such instalments of the principal as shall fall due in 
seven years. To the Sinking Fund thus constituted, 
all the surplus funds of the State Treasury might be 
added. These measures would draw from the vortex 
of the bank such a portion of the resources of the 
State as would enable it certainly to meet the greater 
part of the public debt ; and if combined with a judi- 
cious system of economy, and an unalterable resolution 
never under any circumstances to issue more stock 
until the debt was wholly discharged, would furnish 
safe ground for the hope that there would ultimately 
be an end to our present burdens. 

The receipts of the State Treasury, during the past 
fiscal year, have amounted to two hundred and ninety- 
nine thousand, one hundred and ninety-six dollars and 
sixteen cents ($299,196 16), and the expenditures, 
during the same period, amounted to two hundred and 
seventy -seven thousand, eight hundred and thirty-three 
dollars and seventy-seven cents ($277,833 77) ; leaving 



67 

a balance on the transactions of the year, of twenty- 
one thousand, three hundred and sixty-two dollars and 
thirty-nine cents ($21,362 39). This balance, added 
to the balance accruing during the year 1842, will leave, 
after due allowance for undrawn appropriations, about 
forty-eight thousand dollars ($48,000) at the disposal 
of the Legislature. This amount will be further in- 
creased by nine thousand dollars, being the unexpended 
balance of the two contingent funds committed to my 
hands. Before any extraordinary appropriations are 
made out of this sum, it should be considered that 
there will be no further receipts into the Treasury 
until June next, when the taxes become due, and that 
it is wholly inadequate to defray the ordinary expenses 
of the State up to that period. Notwithstanding a 
similar balance reported to you in 1842, the bank was 
in advance to the Treasury, to the amount of twenty- 
four thousand dollars ($24,000) by the first of Decem- 
ber of the same year, and to the amount of thirty 
thousand ($30,000) at the same period of the year 
before, and thereafter it continued to advance all 
the moneys required by the Treasury until the taxes 
were paid in. These advances are heavy drafts upon 
the bank, and it becomes the State to make arrange- 
ments to dispense with them, either by ordering the 
taxes to be collected at an earlier period, or by such a 
system of economy, as will speedily secure a sufficient 
balance at the close of the fiscal year, to defray expenses 
until the first of June following. 

Among the undrawn appropriations is the sum of 
twenty-five hundred dollars ($2,500), which was at 
your last session, in conformity with the provisions of 
the Act of 1833, placed in the hands of the Executive, 



68 

for the purchase of arms and military equipments. I 
have had no occasion to use this fund. The arsenals 
and magazines already contain more munitions of war 
than the State will probably ever require for service ; 
and the Federal Government annually furnishes a 
quota of arms valued at from six to eight thousand 
dollars. This quota is rated in muskets ; but by a 
provision in the Act of Congress these may be com- 
muted, on application of the Executive of the State, for 
other arms and equipments. A judicious use of this 
resource will enable the State always to keep up a 
proper assortment of munitions of war without the 
expenditure of a dollar. I have this year taken ad- 
vantage of it to equip the Marion Artillery Company 
in Charleston, by commuting about a thousand dollars 
which would otherwise have been expended out of this 
appropriation. I recommend that the appropriation 
be withdrawn, and the portion of Act of 1833 author- 
izing it, repealed. 

In his last annual Message, my immediate predeces- 
sor urged on you the necessity of a reorganization of 
the Executive Department of the State. I invite you 
to a re-perusal of his remarks. In all that he has said 
I give my entire and cordial concurrence, and earnestly 
recommend a serious consideration of the subject. I 
think, too, that a reorganization of all the officers con- 
nected with the Executive Department is as impera- 
tively required. The circumstances which led to a 
division of them between the Seat of Government and 
the City of Charleston having ceased to exist, the 
division should cease also. The Rail-Koad has brought 
them so near together that they might be reunit ed 
with little inconvenience to any one, and much to the 



69 

advantage of the State at lai-ge. There can be no 
necessity for tv\' o Treasurers within six or eight hours 
ride of each other. There is very little, if any un- 
ofranted land in the State, and the Survevor General's 
office might with propriety be finally closed. It is 
now chiefly an instrument for perpetrating frauds, and 
increasing litigation. Such duties of the Surveyor 
General, as it would be beneficial to the State to have 
performed, might be confided to a clerk in the Secretary 
of State's Department. The present incumbent has vol- 
untarily made to me a Report, which gives a very candid 
statement of the condition of his office, and I transmit 
it to you as worthy of your consideration. There might 
be constitutional difficulties in the way of closing the 
office during his term, but provision could be made for 
doing so hereafter. The Comptroller General should 
be near the Treasurer and the Executive. There are 
still stronger reasons for reorganizing the office of Sec- 
retary of State, and locating it entirely at the seat of 
Government. The whole salary of this office is derived 
from fees, and no trifling portion of it is paid by the 
State for small and occasional services. He should at 
least be put uj^on the footing of a State officer, by having 
a fixed salary, in lieu of all charges against the State, 
and for taking care of the records. A large portion 
of these records are in a wretched condition. Many 
have entirely gone to decay, and others are fast mould- 
ering away ; while some important papers are altogether 
lost. These are the necessary consequences of a di- 
vided office, and an officer without a salary. The most 
important duties of the Secretary of State are con- 
nected with the Executive Department, and he should 
be fixed near it. The private records in this office 
5 



vo 

mii>:lit be transferred to the Kecfister's office in the Dis- 
tricts to which they properly belong. It was a Colonial 
regulation which placed them in the Secretary of 
State's office, and the reason for it has long ceased. I 
recommend the appointment of a Commissioner to re- 
organize all the offices to which I have alluded, and to 
reunite them at the Seat of Government. It will, 
however, require a constitutional amendment to effect 
the latter purpose, and if you approve the recommen- 
dation it will be necessary to 2:>ass an Act to that effect 
at your present Session. 

In making this recommendation, I trust I shall not 
be regarded as aiming a blow at the compromises of 
the Constitution. On the contrary, I would regard it 
as one of the greatest calamities which could happen 
to the State, that the present ascendency of one sec- 
tion of it in the Senate, and the other in the House of 
Representatives, should be in the slightest degree dis- 
turbed. And, impei-atively as I think the intei'est of 
the State demands that all the chief officers should be 
assembled at this place, I would not propose it, if I 
could believe that it would have a tendency to pro- 
duce such an effect. 

In accordance with a Resolution passed at your last 
Session, I appointed Commissioners to meet at Lime- 
stone Springs, to enquire into the expediency of es- 
tablishing^ a Hiorh School there. I have not vet re- 
ceived their Report. The first duty of a govern- 
ment, after providing for the security of its constitu- 
ents, is to take proj^er measures for their education. 
The benefits they derive from facilitating commerce, 
by digging canals, clearing out rivers, constructing 
roads, and opening new channels of intercourse, are 



71 

great ; but they sink into insignificance in comparison 
with the vast importance of pouring out upon them in 
every direction copious streams of knowledge — ex- 
panding their intellects, elevating and purifying their 
morals, and training them up to a high and noble cast 
of thought. Under a government like ours, where no 
aristocracy of birth or wealth is tolerated, or can ever 
take root, the only hope we can have of the har- 
monious action or lasting duration of our institutions, 
is by resting them on the solid foundation of a people 
imbued with lofty sentiments, and deeply versed in all 
the lore of learning; who will be capable of compre- 
hending all the blessings they confer, watchful of dis- 
tant danger, and prepared to meet and overcome it, 
not less by power of intellect, than by force of arms. 
Every dollar which can be spared from the absolute 
wants of the State, should be first offered to this great 
cause. Here indeed a li})eral expenditure enriches 
and adorns, while a narrow economy impoverishes and 
degrades. It is to be feared that education has been 
stationary in this State, if it has not retrograded, 
during the last quarter of a century. The College, 
founded and sustained by the wise nmnlficence of the 
State, has done and continues to do more than was 
expected of it. But the Academies have not kept 
pace. There are comparatively few in the country, 
where young men can be well prepared to enter the 
higher classes of colleges. The consequence is, that 
many are yet sent abroad to inferior institutions, and 
return home with educations less complete, and with- 
out the advantage of that intimate association with 
the youth of every section of the State, which can 
only be formed here, and which is of such lasting ad- 



72 

vantage to themselves, and to the country. I recom- 
mend to your serious consideration, the propriety of 
establishing, at some healthy and central spot in each 
District, an Academy endowed in the same manner as 
the College. Tiie sparseness of our population, and 
the want of concentrated wealth in the country, will 
postpone, for an indefiuite period, such establishments 
by the people themselves. And in such a matter, the 
loss of time is absolutely fatal. If the means of the 
State will not permit such an expenditure, in addition 
to that already incurred for purposes of education, I 
submit to you the expediency of diverting the present 
Free School Fund to that object. The Free School 
System has failed. This f\ict has been announced by 
several of my predecessors, and there is scarcely an 
intelligent person in the State, who doubts that its 
benefits are perfectly insignificant in comparison with 
the expenditure. Its failure is owing to the fact, that 
it does not suit our people or our government, and it 
can never be remedied. The paupers, for whose chil- 
dren it is intended, but slightly appreciate the advan- 
tages of education ; their pride revolts at the idea of 
sending their children to school as "jt^oor scliolars^^'' 
and besides, they need them at home, to work. These 
sentiments and wants can in the main only be counter- 
vailed by force. In other countries where similar sys- 
tems exist, force is liberally applied. It is contrary to 
the principles of our institutions to apply it here, and 
the Free School System is a failure. The sum which 
is annually appropriated for the support of Free 
Schools, if equally divided for one year among the 
twenty-eight Districts of the State, giving two portions 
to Charleston District, will be suflScient to build in 



73 

each a good Academy. If, thereafter, one thousand 
dollars a year were appropi-iated to each Academy, a 
teacher of the highest qualifications might be secured 
for every one, and a saving of about eight thousand 
dollars per annum effected by the State, If, in addi- 
tion to this salary, the profits of his School were also 
given to the Teacher, the rates of tuition could be 
reduced, to the advantage of the tax-payers, and he 
might be required to instruct, free of charge, such 
poor scholars as should be sent to him. The details 
of such a system cannot be dwelt on here. The im- 
mense advantages of it over the present one, are 
obvious, at a glance. The oppoi-tunity of giving a 
thorough academical education to his children would 
be placed in the hands of every parent of ordinary 
means, while such of the poor as really desired to edu- 
cate theirs, might still have it in their power. The 
common schools would be vastly improved, under the 
superintendence of those who had passed through these 
Academies, while the standard of education would be 
immensely elevated throughout the State, and the 
College receive a new impulse in the dispensation of 
its incalculable blessings. Its Professorships could al- 
ways be readily and ably supplied from among the 
accomplished teachers the Academies would develop, 
and its graduates of high attainments, but slender 
means, would in turn find useful and profitable em- 
ployment in taking charge of the Academies, instead 
of crowding, as they now usually do, the other profes- 
sions. In short, under such a system, it would be 
scarcely possible for any young man to grow up in our 
State in ignorance and idleness, or fail in obtaining a 
respectable settlement at home, if he possessed energy 



74 

and wortb. Should it not meet yonr approbation, 
and tlie Free School System be continued, I renew the 
recommendation of my immediate predecessor for the 
appointment of a Superintendent of these Schools. 

In obedience to another of your Resolutions of the 
last Session, I have made very particular inquiries into 
the condition of the Catawba Indians. I visited 
their ueigliborhood myself, during the summer, and 
conversed with most of their head men. There is 
quite a misapprehension as to the diminution of their 
number, since the last treaty. It arose probably from 
the circumstance, that a considerable portion of them 
have removed to North Carolina, and taken up their 
residence, for the present, among the Cherokees of that 
State. It would undoubtedly be better for them, if all 
could go there and become absorbed in that well- 
regulated and flourishing remnant of the Cherokee 
tribe. But to this the authorities of North Carolina 
object, and it would be manifestly improper for us to 
send them into a sister State against her wishes. Un- 
less they could be prevailed on to allow themselves to 
be removed beyond the Mississippi, to lands to be pro- 
cured for them by the State, I know of no better 
arrangement, for the present, than to continue the ex- 
periment now going on. A Farm has been purchased 
for them, on which nearly all now in the State have 
settled. Your annual appropriation supplies all their 
necessary wants, and whatever they make by their 
own labor, is clear gain to them. I transmit herewith 
two Memorials which have been furnished at my re- 
quest, giviug an interesting history of this Tribe, from 
its emigration from Canada in 1860, to the present 
day, and also detailing the manner in which the present 



Y5 

laud owners have derived their titles ; which will serve 
to correct the general, but unfounded belief, that these 
lands have been acquired without consideration. There 
is not a more respectable or more valuable population 
in any part of the State, than the residents on the 
Indian Land; nor any more entitled to every reasona- 
ble indulgence at your hands. 

The Arsenals at Charleston and Columbia have 
been converted into Military Academies, in conformity 
with the Act of the Legislature. The change is 
unquestionably a great improvement on the former 
system. 

The appointment of State Agricultural Surveyor 
was accepted by Edmund Ruffin, Esq., a distinguished 
Agriculturist of Virginia. He has been engaged dur- 
ing the year, with assiduity and zeal, in the perfor- 
mance of his duties in various parts of the State, and 
I have no doubt that his labors will be attended with 
the most beneficial and important results. I expect to 
be able to lay his Report before you in a few days. 

The Court of Errors, at its last Term, decided the 
appeal in the case of the State against the Banks 
which refused to accept the provisions of the Act of 
1840 ; and established the important principle, that 
suspension of specie payments is sufficient cause for 
the forfeiture of their charters. I can scarcely sup- 
pose that it was the intention or desire of the State to 
punish the Banks for past offences by the Act referred 
to, but simply to provide against future suspensions. 
Nor can they be thought worthy of punishment for 
appealing to the Judiciary, as they certainly had the 
right to do, to decide a question of vital consequence 
to them and to the country. Having obtained a de. 



70 

cisive and iiii|>ortaiit victory, it appears to me that 
it would not only be magnanimous, but wise, to forgive 
the past, and look only to the future. I took the 
responsibility of instructing the Attorney General and 
the Solicitors not to press the suits against the Banks 
to trial at the fall term of the Common Pleas, for the 
purpose of leaving you free to take such a course as 
von might deem most consistent with the dignity and 
interest of the State. I suggest to you the propriety 
of repealing the Act of 1840, and passing a new one, 
founded on the decision of the Court of Errors, de- 
claring that any future suspension of specie payments 
shall cause the forfeiture of the charter of the sus- 
pending Bank, and requiring the Executive, in all sucli 
cases, immediately to institute proceedings for that 
purpose. The Act of 1840 is too indulgent to the 
Banks, in permitting them to suspend, on payment of 
a trifling penalty ; and as to the monthly returns 
which it requires, experience has everywhere proved 
that they are worse than useless. I have recently re- 
ceived communications from the Bank of South Caro- 
lina and the State Bank, notifying me that they would 
no longer contest the validity of this Act, and asking 
to be allowed to conform to its provisions. I refer the 
matter to your consideration. 

I have received, and transmit to you, a communica- 
tion from Hon. Baylis J. Eaele, resigning his seat 
upon the Bench, in consequence of ill health. His re- 
tirement from a station which he has filled with such 
eminent ability, is a serious public loss, and the cause 
of it, a source of deep regret. 

I transmit to you Resolutions on various subjects, 
from a number of our sister States, and also letters 



referring to documents received from the Federal Gov- 
ernment. I need not suggest to you to give thera a 
respectful consideration. 

It has been rumored, and some remarks of the 
English Minister for Foreign affiurs in the House of 
Lords have given countenance to the rumor, that a 
Treaty is on foot, between Great Britain and Texas, 
by which the former is to bind herself to guarantee the 
Independence of Texas, on condition of the abolition 
of Slavery in that country. Our most vital interests 
would be involved in such a Treaty. It is scarcely 
possible that Texas can make a compact so absolutely 
suicidal. The true interests of Texas, and of this 
country, demand that she should be annexed to this 
Union ; and it is to be hoped that ere long this will be 
done. If it is not, the Federal Government should 
resist the ratification of any such Treaty with Great 
Britain, as an aggression upon the United States. 
Possessed of Canada, and the West Indies, claiming 
Oregon, seeking to obtain a foothold in Texas, and 
looking with a covetous eye to Cuba, this great Naval 
Power is evidently aiming to encircle us in her arms. 
AVe should not, perhaps, permit ourselves to doubt, at 
this time, that Texas cannot be so blind to her own 
welfare as to make a Treaty stipulating for the aboli- 
tion of Slavery, nor that the Federal Government, in 
such an event, w^ould fail to assert the rights and dig- 
nity of the United States. But an expression of your 
opinion on the annexation of Texas to the Union, 
might not be improper. 

I have, in the discharge of my duty, given you 
the best information I possess of the condition of the 
State, and recommended to your consideration such 



78 

measures as I deem necessary and expedient. It re- 
mains for your better judgment to approve or disap- 
prove. May the Great Kuler of tlie Universe, who 
alone is Wise and Perfect, so influence your delibera- 
tions, that whatever you do ma}^ redound to the wel- 
fare and honor of our country. 

J. H. HAMMOND. 



MESSAGE 

TO, THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE 
OF SOUTH CAROLINA, NOV. 26, 1844. 



The folio-wing Meseage was read by the Executive Secretary, Col. Beaufort T. Watts 



Executive Department 
Columbia, Nov. 26, 1844 



'\ 



Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives : 

In my last annual Message to your predecessors, I 
congratulated them on the apparent dawn of a new 
era in our prosperity, w^hich I hoped might be perma- 
nent. The currency had reached, and I am happy to 
say, has continued to maintain a sound condition. 
Commerce, trade, and manufactures were flourishing, 
as they yet flourish in most parts of the civilized world ; 
and it was natural to suppose that agriculture must 
also revive. But we have been disappointed. Against 
the pressure of laws everywhere adopted to encourage 
manufactures, agriculture seems destined to struggle in 
vain. And as these laws are chiefly directed against 
the manufacturing supremacy of England, they fall 
with peculiar weight upon that great agricultural 
staple on which our prosperity depends. The price 
of cotton throughout the world is, and must for our 
time, in all probability, continue to be regulated by 



80 

the price in Liverpool Its value in that market 
deperids npon the condition of the cotton mannfac- 
turers in England; and the tariff laws of other 
countries, which check the foreign demand for English 
cotton goods, must necessarily lower the price of the 
raw material in Liverpool, while it rises nowhere else ; 
but, on the contrary, falls everywhere with the foil in 
that great mart, through which passes two-thirds of 
the crop of the whole world. No matter, then, where 
cotton manufactures flourish, nnless they flourish in 
England, cotton cannot bear a fair price ; and every 
attempt to Iniild them up artificially elsewhere, is at 
the immediate cost of the cotton grower. Did they 
naturally spring up under a system of universal free 
trade, and in wholesome competition with England, 
they would indicate an actual increase of consumption, 
and prove highly beneficial to us. But tariff laws, 
though they may alter the channels of trade, and in 
doing so produce, as they invariably do, much mischief, 
have no power to increase consumption. On the con- 
trary, by increasing the manufacturers' prices where 
they are in force, they necessarily diminish it, and 
thereby depreciate the raw material. Such laws may 
take from one and bestow upon another, to the injury 
of the whole, but they cannot ereate wealth. How 
long the present state of things will continue, and in 
what it will terminate, cannot be foreseen; but the 
fact appears to be clearly established, for the first time 
in the history of the world, that, by the skill of political 
jugglery, trade, commerce, and manufactures may be 
made to flourish, and a sound currency exist, while 
agriculture, the acknowledged mother of them all, and 
particularly that branch of agriculture which furnishes 



81 

them with their life-blood, is sunk to the lowest point 
of depression. 

The income of the State, from all sources, durins" 
the past year, amounts to three hundred and six 
thousand, eight hundred and thirty-one dollars and 
sixty-three cents ($306,831 03). The expenditures 
during the same period have reached the sum of three 
hundred and forty-seven thousand, seven hundred and 
four dollars and sixty-three cents (|3-47,Y04 63) ; of 
wdiich, however, fifty-six thousand, four hundred and 
eighty-threedollarsandseventy-threecents ($56,483 73) 
have been applied to the I'eduction of the principal of 
the public debt. The current income has therefore ex- 
ceeded the ordinary expenses of the State, by tbe sum 
of fifteen thousand, six hundred and ten dollars and 
twenty-three cents ($15,610 23). The balance in the 
Treasury at the close of the year (a portion of it, how- 
ever, subject to undrawn appropriations) amounted to 
seventy thousand, five hundi-ed and six dollars and 
fifty-nine cents ($70,506 59), to which may be added 
about eight thousand dollars, being the unexpended 
balance of the contingent funds placed in the hands of 
the Executive. 

The direct taxes levied and collected for the use of 
the State, amounted this year to two hundred and 
seventy-seven thousand, five hundred and sixty-two 
dollars and forty cents ($277,562 40). And during 
the same period there has been also collected from the 
people the additional sum of one hundred and one 
thousand, four hundred and twenty-eight dollars and 
ninety-two cents ($101,428 92) ; and during the year 
1843, one hundred and three thousand, seven hun 
dred and twenty-nine dollars and ninety-two cents 



82 

($103,729 92), or about an average of thirty-seven 
per cent, of the State taxes annually, which has been 
assessed by the Commissioners of the Poor, of Public 
Buildings, and of Roads and Bridges, in the different 
Districts. I have had accurate accounts kept of the 
taxes thus levied and collected for these years, that I 
mi^-ht apprise you of their great amount, and call 
your attention to the propriety of providing for a 
more strict accountaljility for their appropriation than 
has been hitherto exacted. These Commissioners 
have been required to report, some of them to the 
Comptroller General, and some to the Clerks of the 
Courts, and account with them for the monies received 
and expended ; but I am not aware that it is regularly 
done. If it was required of the Commissioners to 
publish such reports, and circulate them through their 
respective Districts, so that the people might be in- 
formed of the purposes to which their money was 
applied, it would be nothing more than is proper and 
consistent with the spirit of our institutions. It is the 
right of every citizen to know for what he is taxed ; to 
judge of the propriety of it ; and to be assured that 
the money has been used with discretion and economy. 
And it is a right which cannot be too jealously 
watched over. 

I recommended to the last Les^islature to take 
speedy and effective measures for the payment of the 
public debt, then amounting to three and a half 
millions of dollars ($3,500,000), the interest on which, 
including charges, exceeded one hundred and ninety 
thousand dollars per annum ($190,000). I proposed 
that the Bank of the State should be directed to 
redeem it, at the rate of five hundred thousand dollars 



83 

a year. An act was passed requiring tlie Bank to 
provide for the payment of the instalments of the 
debt fiilling due on the first of January, 1845 — 6 
amountino; to five hundred and fiftv thousand dollars 
($550,000), and to deliver to the Comptroller General, 
to be cancelled, the evidences of State debt in its 
possession, to the amount of four hundred and fifteen 
thousand, two hundred and seventy dollars ($415,270). 
Of the evidences of State debt held by the Bank, one 
hundred and sixty-three thousand, four hundred and 
sixty-eight dollars ($163,468) fell due in 1845—6, 
so that the Avhole amount of debt, the liquidation of 
which was provided for by the act of last session, was 
eight hundred and one thousand, eight hundred and 
two dollars ($8C 1,802), or about four hundred thousand 
dollars per annum for two years. I am happy to say 
that the Bank surrendered to the Comptroller General, 
in January last, and that he cancelled, four hundred 
and seventeen thousand, and eight dollars and twenty- 
nine cents ($417,008 29) of the public debt, being 
something more than was required of it ; and I do not 
doubt that it will provide for the punctual payment 
of the instalments of 1845 — 6 as they become due. 

I will not repeat to you the reasons which induced 
me to make to your predecessors the recommendations 
referred to. They are stated at large in my last 
annual Message. I feel bound, however, to say, that 
nothing has occurred since to change the opinions 
then expressed. As far as regards the Bank, the 
President of that institution, in a report made to the 
Legislature near the close of the last session, has 
painted in such strong coloi's its power, and the evils 
it might cause, as justly to increase the apprehensions 



84 



previously felt upon that subject. Objecting to^ the 
collection and payment of three and a half millions, 
with a capital of more than four millions, at regular 
intervals during seven years, he says that, " so large a 
creditor going at once into the courts, would alarm all 
other banks and individual creditors, compel them in 
a measure to suspend the usual accommodations, draw 
in tlieir circulation, contract their business, and also 
sue in every case where they are distrustful of tlieir 
debts. Their customers, thus checked and pressed, 
would in turn sue those indebted to them, and an 
universal state of alarm would pervade the country. 
The dockets of the courts would be crowded with 
cases, and the Sheriffs would transfer vast amounts of 
property at incalculable sacrifices; the value of all 
other property would be greatly depreciated, and 
slaves would be run off, or many of them bought up 
by the people of other States, and would be transferred 
to improve their condition, leaving heavy taxation to 
this State, and less property to bear it. Lands 
abandoned and houses deserted by a ruined and bank- 
rupted people, would everywhere remain the monu- 
ments of an erroneous and precipitate legislation." 

If such disastrous consequence would arise from a 
liquidation not complete, and protracted through a 
period of seven years, how much depends on the 
perfect management of the Bank, and to what calami- 
ties would we be subjected by its failure — a fate from 
which it has no chartered immunity, and which, 
involved as it is in the vortex of trade, may overtake 
it suddenly, when the people least expect, and are 
worst prepared for a catastrophe so terrible. Is it 
wise for us to slumber on such a volcano ? Does not 



85 

a iust regard for the safety and welfare of the com- 
muuit}^ require that efficient measures should be taken 
to remove from it, at the earliest possible period, an 
enofine so destructive, which fraud, accident, or over- 
sight might at any moment put in flital operation ? 
It is at least worthy your consideration, whether we 
are to incur the risk of it forever ; and if not, as its 
charter has but twelve years to run, there is little time 
to be lost, since it cannot be closed up in seven without 
desolatiuG; the State. 

The Bank of South Carolina, and the State Bank, 
have accepted the provisions of the act of 1840, and 
the suits ao-ainst them have been withdrawn. 

O 

It affbrds me great pleasure to inform you that the 
militia of the State are completely organized, and are, 
for militia, in excellent training. There are few officers 
of any grade who are not familiar with, and competent 
to instruct the men in the different schools of infantry 
tactics, and in camj:) duties. The artillery on the 
coast is in fine condition, and the cavalry throughout 
the State numerous, well mounted, and well drilled in 
the sword exercise, and the manoeuvres approj^riate to 
that arm of service. The whole number of the militia 
amounts to near fifty-five thousand, officers and men. 

There are now in the State arsenals, in order for 
service, ten thousand five hundred muskets, rifles and 
carbines ; one hundred and two pieces of artillery ; 
thirty thousand pounds of powder; and twenty-five 
thousand pounds of lead, besides a large quantity of 
balls and cartridges. The other military stores and 
equipments are in j)roportion. The number of public 
arms in the hands of the militia cannot easily be ascer- 
tained, but it is not short of five thousand muskets and 
6 



86 

rifles, and twenty-five cannon, mostly brass. Tlie 
State may therefore he regarded as prepared to arm, 
at any moaient, nearly or quite one-lialf of her whole 
militia force, and to furnish them with ammunition for 
perhaps a campaign, without incurring any new ex- 
pense; while the men she can bring into the field are 
probably better qualified to render efficient service 
than any citizen soldiery in the world. And it will 
cost nothing but your firm adherence to the present 
military system to maintain her in this position for the 
future. 

In fact, tlie military expenses of the State might, I 
think, be materially reduced, and the benefits of one 
valua1)le branch of the present system greatly ex- 
tended, l)y a change which can be readily effected. 
There are no good reasons why there should be two 
Arsenals in the State, or that they should be placed^ 
at the two most expensive points in it — Charleston 
and Columbia. A few hundred stands of arms, given 
in charge to the City Councils of these places, would 
be all that could be required, if, indeed, they would 
be necessary for their ])rotectiou in an emergency ; 
while in such an event the arsenals containinof all our 
military stores, unprovided as they are with a guard 
capable of ailbrding the slightest protection to them, 
must necessarily fall into the hands of any active foe. 
Prudence, therefore, dictates that the arsenals should 
be removed from locations where they may be sub- 
jected to surprises, and established at some spot in the 
interior, less accessible, and at the same time cheaper 
and more healthy. Such a spot might be found on 
one or the other branch of the rail-road, which now 
affords such facilities for transportation that a position 



87 

anywhere upon it would be as convenient for military 
purposes as at Charleston or Columbia. The sale of 
the arsenal and magazine Ijuildings and grounds, at 
these places, would, I have little doubt, furnish ample 
funds for erecting a brick arsenal and extensive wooden 
barracks in the country, without requiring a dollar 
from the Treasury. The consolidation of the two 
schools would enable you to dispense with one set of 
Professors and other officers, which, with the cheapness 
of living, and the number of pay students that might 
be expected if the situation was known to be perfectly 
healthy, would in all probability reduce the expendi- 
ture to one-half the sum now apj^ropriated to their 
support. That amounts, at present, to about twenty- 
eight thousand dollars. In suggesting this plan, I by 
no means desire to be understood as recommending 
any change as regards the school system. It is a 
great improvement on that of a hired guard, and the 
cadets are as efficient protectors of the arsenals as the 
guards were ; neither being anything more than 
nominally so. The cadets, united in one body, and 
increased by an unlimited number of pay students, 
would affijrd ample protection ; while so line a school, 
at a healthy location in the country, would induce a 
large proportion of the rising generation to prepare 
themselves for future service, both military and civil, 
by embracing its advantages. The policy heretofore 
pursued, of repairing damaged arms, is questionable. 
They are, for the most part, not worth the expense. 
The appropriation of two thousand dollars per annum, 
for repairing arms and arsenal purposes, may, I think, 
in any event, be henceforth judiciously curtailed one- 
half 



88 

I transmit to you a report made to me by our very 
efficient Adjutant General, whose recommendations are 
entitled to your serious attention ; and also interesting 
Keports from the military schools. 

Permit me to renew to you a recommendation which 
I made to your predecessors, to estal)lish a central 
academy at some suitable point in every District in 
the State, with an endowment of a thousand dollars a 
year to each. If you are unwilling to abandon the 
free-school system, and appropriate the funds to this 
object, I see no reason why twenty-eight thousand 
dollars additional might not be annually devoted to 
this important purpose. Our expenditure would then 
be far short of that made by many of the States in 
this Union, and in none of them is a more liberal one 
required thau in ours. We have but a few well-con- 
ducted academies, and these, as soon as they acquire 
any reputation, are inconveniently crowded ; and de- 
pending as they do for their success upon the acci- 
dental circumstance of having a competent Principal, 
properly appreciated, they seldom dispense their ad- 
vantages to the same degree, for a length of time. 
Our common schools are, for the most part, a disgrace 
to an enlightened people. A system of permanent 
academies, liberally endowed, one of which w^ould be 
within the reach of every citizen, conducted by such 
men as your appropriation, and the tuition funds would 
attract, and teaching uniformly a course prescribed by 
the Trustees of the College, would produce a revolu- 
tion in the education of the State in a few years. The 
annual expenditure would not equal that now incurred 
for military purposes. While I am far from censuring 
that expenditure, and trust that the apathy of a long 



89 

peace may not "be allowed to delude ns into false 
security, still it is certain that, under God, tlie world 
is now mainly governed by the force of intellect ; and 
it is the duty of a wise Government to bestow its 
highest care upon the mental culture of its people. We 
have expended millions for internal improvements, 
which have never yielded a dollar of clear revenue to 
the Treasury, nor perhaps brought a valuable emigrant 
or preserved a useful citizen to us. The interest of a 
single half million appropriated to the establishment 
and support of central academies, will give an impulse 
to education which in a short time would be felt in 
every artery of our political, mercantile, and agricul- 
tural systems. You have liberally and wisely pro- 
vided for the education of the more wealthy by es- 
tablishing a College, which has done, and continues to 
do, more for the State than every other corporation 
put together, within her limits; and you bestow an- 
nually a large sum for the mental improvement of the 
poor, which I wish I could say produced correspond- 
ing benefits. But for that large and substantial body, 
constituting here, as it does in all countries, the broad 
and solid foundation on which rests the frame-work 
of the political system — that middle class, who may 
not take advantage of your free schools, and cannot 
conveniently take advantage of your College — you 
have done nothing. These central academies would 
meet their wishes, or at least their wants. The neces- 
sity of turning your most serious attention to education 
is pressing ; and it is incalculably important. We are 
engaged in the experiment of Governments, simple and 
federative, upon principles as new^ as they are grand ; 
and propose to solve the great political and moral 



90 

problem of how far Freedom and Security are com- 
patible. Sixty years — which constitute but a brief 
portion of a nations cycle — have not convinced the 
world, nor wholly satisfied ourselves. The momen- 
tous question yet remains, Will our institutions en- 
dure ? They have passed to three generations — they 
may fail in the fourth or fifth, or tenth. They cer- 
tainly will fail, and with them the best hopes of man- 
kind, unless the most anxious and unremitted care is 
bestowed on the education of those, on whom it will 
devolve to sustain them. Ignorance and free institu- 
tions cannot co-exist. An ignorant people can never 
long have any other than a despotic government. 
They are not fit to be free ; and though they may 
possibly achieve, they cannot maintain their liberty. 
It is an old and trite saying, that the price of freedom 
is eternal vigilance. It is, nevertheless, profoundly 
true. It is usually interj)reted to mean that the people 
must watch over their rulers. This is important. But 
in this country, where the people are truly and prac- 
tically the source of all power, the application must 
go farther. They must watch themselves. They must 
guard against their own prejudices and passions ; 
against local and narrow views ; against party spirit ; 
against their proverbial love of change ; in short, they 
must guard against their own ignorance, which is the 
fruitful parent of all these dangers, and which will 
otherwise speedily degrade them, from the rank of a 
people, to that of a j)opulace. 

In obedience to a resolution of the last session, I 
have had the repairs made in the Secretary of State's 
ofiice, which were indispensably necessary for the pre- 
servation of the records. There are still many im- 



91 

provements which might be made iu that office, and 
also in the Surveyor General's, that would be both 
useful and conv^enient. The expense of them was 
greater than I felt authorized to incur, without con- 
sulting the Legislature. T think it highly expedient 
that a Commission should be appointed to examine 
the condition of these offices, and report to you in 
detail upon them. I have heretofore recommended 
that all the State offices should be consolidated 
at the Seat of Government; that the Executive De- 
partment should be properly organized ; that a stated 
salary should be given to the Secretary of State, 
in lieu of perquisites, which are now his only compen- 
sation, and that the Land Office should be closed. 
The experience of another year has confirmed my 
opinion of the propriety and importance of these mea- 
sures, and I suggest them again for your consideration. 

The power of appointing JSTotaries Public has been 
immemorially exercised by the Executive. I can find 
no law conferring that power ; nor can I, indeed, find 
any statute creating such an office. It is recognized in 
some acts, and its authority is sometimes specially 
limited ; but none of them prescribe its powers and 
duties, or fix its term of duration. The office origi- 
nated ill the Civil Law, was handed down with it to all 
modern nations, and probably has no other authority 
here than that derived from usage. As it is held by 
hundreds in the State, and is more and more sought 
after, I think you would do well to legalize its exist- 
ence, and regulate its appointment, powers, and tenure. 

Much inconvenience, and sometimes serious evils, 
arise from the ignorance of the common Magistrates, 
and their irregular distribution in the Districts for 



92 

which they are commissioned. They are also un- 
doubtedly too numerous. If one Magistrate, and only 
one, was appointed in each beat company in the State, 
the number, I apprehend, would be sufficient, the 
location more convenient, and the cbances of procuring 
the most intelligent citizens to fill a station so respon- 
sible greatly increased. As, however, but few of the 
Magistrates can be expected to be lawyers, or to liave 
a law library at their command, I believe it to be indis- 
pensable to the regular administration of the law 
within their jurisdiction, that a Manual should be com- 
piled and published, by the authority of the State, 
explaining in a clear manner the powers and duties of 
Magistrates, and prescribing the proper forms of pro- 
ceedings in their courts ; to Avhich might be added a 
codification of the common and statute laws, and re- 
ported decisions, with which it is necessary that they 
should be familiar. The expense of such a work 
would bear but a small proportion to its value to the 
people at large, as well as to the Magistrates. The 
law strikes many of its severest blows through the 
agency of the common Magistracy ; and it is but fair 
that the humblest as well as the hio-hest citizen should 
be dealt with by the same rule, well defined and 
thoroughly understood by those who are its ministers. 
The act of 1839, prescribing the manner of elect- 
ing District officers, requires some amendment. In 
case of the death of the Clerk of the Court, the mode 
of filling the vacancy is not distinctly stated. To pre- 
vent great and pressing inconvenience and loss, I have 
been compelled to make an appointment under the 
act of 18 If), which it was probably the intention of 
the Legislature of 1839 to supersede. Its requisitions, 



93 

as regards tlie commissioning of sheriffs, are extremely 
incouvenieiit and iiucertain, if not incompatible. 

A title to tbe Mount Dearborn lands lias been at 
length acquired for the State, and it is recorded in the 
office of the Secretary of State, and of the Register 
of Mesne Conveyance in Lancaster District. 

Duplicates of the weights and measures established 
by the Federal Government have been received, and de- 
posited with the Collector of the Port of Charleston 
for safe-keepmg, until you can make some disposition 
of them. 

I transmit to you the suj)plementary report of Mr. 
RuFFiN, our late able and in defat livable State A<2:ricul- 
tural and Geological Surveyor. In consequence of his 
resignation of that appointment at the close of the 
year, I offered it to M. Tuomey, Esq., of Virginia, an 
accomplished Geologist and Botanist, who accepted it. 
His very valuable and interesting report is herewith 
submitted. It has been found impossible to traverse 
every portion of the State within the year. Many 
important localities remain unexplored, and many re- 
quire to be visited again to render perfect even a 
general view of the Geology of the State. I would 
not recommend a minute and detailed geological survey 
at the public expense. I do not think it called for at 
this time, or likely, in the present state of that science, 
to supersede the necessity of other surveys at no very 
remote period ; but it is due to science, and the char- 
acter of the State, that, since the survey has been in- 
stituted, it should be completed on the scale on which 
it is commenced. That can probably be done in one 
year more, and I recommend its continuation for that 
length of time. 



94 

I know of no measure better calculated to im- 
prove our agriculture than one which lias been here- 
tofore suggested to the Legislature — the exemption of 
land from executions for debt, other than that con- 
tracted for its purchase. If a law was passed to that 
effect, to go into operation at a given tune hereafter, 
I can perceive but little injury or inconvenience that 
would be likely to result from it, while the advantages 
to be derived are numerous and important. It would 
enhance the value of land, induce investments in it, and 
insure substantial and extensive improvements of every 
kind. It would probably check emigration, diminish 
speculation, and in many ways conduce to the stability 
and permanence of all our institutions. The subject is 
at least worthy of your attention. 

I cannot omit to invite you to an earnest considera- 
tion of federal affairs, and the peculiar relations of this 
State to the Federal Government, which have become 
highly interesting and important. The proceedings of 
the last session of Congress form an epoch in our his- 
tory. With the events which preceded, and the cir- 
cumstances under which the Act of Congress, called 
the Compromise Act, was passed, you are familiar. 
That Act was in fact a treaty, made between belligerent 
parties — with arms in their hands — solemnly ratified 
by the Federal Government on the one part, and a 
Convention of the State of South Carolina on the 
other, and deposited among the archives of our country. 
No treaty was ever made more important in its char- 
acter, or more sacredly binding in its obligations. By 
that treaty South Carolina bound herself to submit 
for nine years longer to an unconstitutional and most 
oppressive Tariff, in consideration that its exactions 



95 

should be gradually reduced during tliat period, and 
that after the expiration of it no higher Tariff should 
again be levied than was necessary to defray the ex- 
penses of an economical administration of the Gov- 
ernment; and that the rate of duties should in no 
event, but the emergency of war, exceed twenty per 
cent, ad valorem. Our State faithfully adhered to 
the compact, and patiently bore the heavy burden 
which had been imposed upon her. In 1842 the 
period arrived for the Federal Government to fulfil its 
stipulations, and reduce the Tariff to twenty per cent. 
ad valorem, or lower, if so much was not requisite for 
the support of an economical administration. But 
instead of reducing them, the rate of duties was in- 
creased—actually increased to a point higher than the 
Tariff which South Carolina had declared null and 
void within her limits in 1832 ; which declaration led 
to the Compromise Act. History furnishes no instance 
of a grosser, or more insulting breach of faith, while per- 
haps no law has ever been enacted by the regular 
government of a civilized country, so subversive of the 
rights and destructive to the interests of any respecta- 
ble portion of its people, as the Tariff Act of 1842, 
considered in all its bearings, is to the rights and in- 
terests of the Planting States of this Confederacy. It 
might naturally have been supposed, and probably it 
was expected, that this State, in conformity with the 
principles she had so long professed, and on which she 
had heretofore acted, would immediately nullify this 
Act ; but she did not. Closely united at the time 
with the great Democratic party of the Union on the 
general principles of government, and on certain ques- 
tions of federal policy of the utmost moment — seeing 



96 

that this party had carried the elections to i,he House 
of Kejireseiatatives by a large majority — Lnd justly 
regarding it as pledged to free trade, and bound to 
repeal this exorbitant Tariff, she paused, and deter- 
mined to await the action of another Congress ; thus 
furnishing a fresh example of her patriotic forbearance, 
and sincere devotion to the peace and integrity of the 
Union. The new Congress met, and has terminated 
its first session. Propositions were made in both 
branches to modify the Tariff, and signally defeated. 
In the House, where the Democratic majority was 
large, the proposition was disposed of almost without 
debate, and a majority of the Democrats from the 
States north of the Potomac actually voted against it ; 
wliile in the Senate, some of the leaders of that party 
from the same section did so likewise. There seems, 
therefore, to be no reasonable, or even plausible ground, 
on w^hicli to rest a hope that this law, so unconstitu- 
tional, and so ruinous to us, will ever be repealed, or 
reduced to the standard of the Compromise. The 
friends of the Tariff do not appear to entertain the 
slightest idea of such a thing. They have distinctly 
proclaimed it to be the settled policy of the Federal 
Government; and, in foct, they scarcely conceal that 
they regard our further remonstrances on the subject as 
intrusive and impertinent. Nor could we, after the utter 
contempt which they have manifested for their plighted 
faith, repose with safety upon any concessions which 
they might, by circumstances, be forced again to make. 
With what confidence we may rely, on the other 
hand, upon the Northern section of the Democratic 
party to carry out the free trade principles which 
they profess, we are well admonished by the history, 



97 

not only of the last session of Congress, bnt of the 
protective policy itself. The act of 1828, the most 
stringent of the Tariff acts, save that of 1842, was 
carried by the votes of the Democratic leaders of the 
State of New York, given nnder very ji-eculiar cir- 
cumstances ; and this last act, by the votes of Democra- 
tic leaders from the same State, and from Pennsylvania, 
And it may be regarded as certain, that the friends of 
the protective system will be able, at all times, to com- 
mand as many votes among the Northern Democrats 
as may be necessary for their purposes. 

Nor can we, I fear, anticipate any demonstration 
of such a fixed, determined, and combined resistance 
to that policy on the part of the South, as will force 
the North to abandon it entirely. For this apprehen- 
sion there are many reasons, but one is paramount. 
Unfortunately, the Electors of President and Vice-Pre- 
sident are chosen by the people, in all the Southern 
States except our own. They are, in consequence, at 
all times almost equally divided about men ; and in- 
terested politicians spare no pains to impress it on the 
voters, that the salvation of the country depends upon 
the elevation of this or that individual to the Presi- 
dential chair. In this exciting contest, measures and 
principles become matters of minor consequence ; and 
though it is well known that no President, whatever 
may have been his political creed, has yet had firmness 
to veto a Tariif bill, however monstrous, and that no 
anointed candidate even, has ever been able fully and 
consistently to declare himself against the protective 
policy, they still persist in the pernicious delusion that 
everytliing will be secured by the triumph of their 
favorite. While every other question, however vital 



98 

to liberty and tlie Constitution, continues to be made 
subordinate to this, and to be estimated solely by its 
influence on the Presidential election ; and while that 
election continues to be made directly by the masses, 
it is almost vain to expect that the people of any State 
can be united among themselves, or the States of any 
section combine, unless under extraordinary impulses, 
to resist effectually the usurpations of the Federal 
Government. 

Under these circumstances, it devolves on South 
Carolina to decide what course she will pursue in 
reference to the Tariff The period has arrived when 
she can no longer postpone her final decision. It is 
due from her. It is expected of her. And if she 
fails to announce it, her silence will nevertheless be 
conclusive. Whatever may be the technical validity, 
or legal force, of the opinions on this important ques- 
tion which your predecessors have placed upon your 
records, it appears clear to me that our State is bound by 
her past history, and the principles she professes ; and 
owes it to the country and herself, to adopt such mea- 
sures as will at an early period bring all her moral, con- 
stitutional, and, if necessary, physical resources, in direct 
array against a policy, which has never been checked but 
by her interposition, and which impoverishes our coun- 
try, revolutionizes our Government, and overthrows our 
liberties. The expediency, the manner, and the pre- 
cise time of doing this, are for your grave deliberation. 

The last session of Congress was also signalized by 
the rejection of a treaty for the annexation of Texas 
to the United States. The cause assigned for this 
rejection was, that Mexico not having yet acknow- 
ledged the independence of Texas, it would be a viola- 



99 

tion of our treaty of amity aud peace with that power 
to receiv^e Texas into the Union. It is at least a ques- 
tion, whether the United States has not a claim to 
Texas paramount to any to which Mexico can pretend. 
It may also be questioned, whether the terms on which 
Texas united with the Mexican liepublic, and formed 
a Department of it, did not entitle her of right to 
withdraw whenever she saw proper. Be that as it 
may, she has in fact dissolved the connection, and has 
been recognized as an Independent Power, by the 
United States, England, France, Belgium, and Hol- 
land. A jury of nations has pronounced a divorce, 
and Mexico has abstained for eight years from at. 
tempting to revive the union by the ordinary means 
of force of arms. Her claims cannot now be re- 
garded as anything short of frivolous. That the poli- 
tical sensibility of the United States should now hang 
a point of honor on these claims, and thereby throw 
away an empire, must appear to all the world ex- 
tremely^ romantic, if not ridiculous. While Bussia is 
by incessant war extending her overgrown dominion 
into the rugged step})es of Tartary ; while France 
sheds torrents of Idood, and spends millions of trea- 
sure, to conquer a foothold on a sterile coast of Africa, 
and, stretching across two oceans, opens her batteries 
on the female sovereign of a petty island at the anti- 
podes, to establish her supremacy there ; and while 
England with rapacious hand despoils Eastern princes 
of province after province, and even condescends to 
accept a kingdom on the Musquito shore, as a legacy 
from a barbarian chief; that the United States should, 
from mere delicacy, refuse a proffered territory of 
three hundred thousand square miles, embracing the 



100 

most fertile soil on the globe, and peopled by her own 
cliildren, cannot be otherwise regarded than as abso- 
lutely Quixotic. Europe, while rejoicing at such an 
unexpected event, is so utterly incapable of appreciat- 
ino' these sublimated notions of national ftiith, as not to 
hesitate to ascribe it solely to the influence of party 
spirit, and note it as a fresh evidence of the instability 
of our institutioDS. That party spirit may have had 
some influence in the rejection of this "treaty, is prob- 
able. But the main, and most powerful reason, un- 
doubtedly was the deadly animosity of a portion of 
this Union to our domestic slavery, and the fear of 
extending and perpetuating it. This reason has been 
openly avowed by nearly the whole press of the non- 
slaveholding States ; by their public lecturers, by their 
most distinguished orators, and by the Legislatures of 
several States — particularly that of Massachusetts — 
whose resolutions I transmit to you, in which is 
strongly intimated the expediency of dissolving the 
Union of these States, on this very ground, if Texas is 
annexed. 

Scarcely any circumstance could have furnished so 
striking a jjroof of the deep-seated hostility of every 
portion, and almost every individutil, of the North, to 
our system of Slavery, and their fixed determination 
to eradicate it, if possible, as the rejection of this treaty, 
and the arguments by which they justify it. In every 
point of view, save one, the acquisition of Texas was 
of more consequence to the North than to the South. 
To them it gave an increase of commerce ; a fresh 
market for their manufactures ; another vent for popu- 
lation ; new subjects on whom to levy tribute. To us, 
security, only ; and security at an immense sacrifice in 



lOL 

the value of our lands and of our staples. But the 
pride of increased dominion, the thirst of wealth; 
ambition, and avarice — long supposed to be the two 
strongest passions of our nature — ^have sunk before 
their fanatical zeal to uproot an institution with which 
is linked forever, and inseparably, the welfare, and 
almost the existence, of five millions of their fellow- 
citizens. 

Nor is the refusal to ratify this treaty, so vitally 
important to the South, the only extraordinary proof 
which the past year has furnished, of the exuberant 
and rancorous hostility of the North to our domestic 
slavery. At a meeting in May last, of the General Con- 
ference of the Methodist denomination — whose ecclesi- 
astical constitution and government bear, in some re- 
spects, a striking resemblance to the political Constitu- 
tion and Government of this Confederacy — a pious Bish- 
op of the South was virtually deposed from his sacred 
office, because he was a slaveholder. It was openly 
and distinctly stated, that the Methodist congregations 
in the non-slaveholding States, embracing a much 
larger proportion of the masses than any others, would 
no longer tolerate a slave-holder in their pulpits ; a 
fact which has been since exemplified. With becoming 
spirit, the patriotic Methodists of the South dissolved 
all connexion with their brethren of the North. And 
for this they are entitled to lasting honor and gratitude 
from us. Other instances might be cited, not so strik- 
ing, but equally decisive of the fact, that the abolition 
phrenzy is no longer confined to a few restless and dar- 
ing spirits, but has seized the whole body of the people 
in the non-slaveholding States, and is rapidly supersed- 
ing all other excitements, and trampling on all other 
7 



lo-J 

interests. It Las even been thought that the organized 
Abolition vote might decide the pending Presidential 
election ; and both parties at the North have been 
charged with endeavoring to conciliate it for their can- 
didate. While England, encouraged by these move 
ments, and exasperated by our Tariff laws, is making 
avowed war on us, that she may sti'ike a blow at those 
who rre more onr enemies than hers. 

Though all these eiforts may fail to coerce Congress 
to pass r.n Act of Emancipation, and can hardly suc- 
ceed in organizing an extensive insurrection among our 
slaves, it cannot be disguised that they are doing mis- 
chief here, and may soon effect irreparable injury. 
They must be arrested. It is indispensably necessary 
that they should be arrested in the shortest possible 
period of time. The question is. How is this to be 
done ? Argument and remonstrance are clearly useless. 
All appeals to sympathy, to interest, and to the guar- 
antees of the Bond of Union, have failed, as yet, and 
will, I liave no doubt, continue to fail. Seeing, as we 
of the South do, the naked impossibility of emancipa- 
tion, without the extermination of one race or the 
other, through crimes and horrors too shocking to be 
mentioned — leavms^ a devastated land covered with 
ashes, tears, and blood — I cannot doubt that you will 
be justified by God and future generations, in adopting 
any measures, however startling they may appear, that 
will place your rights and property exclusively under 
your own control, and enable you to repel all interfer- 
ence with them, whatever shape it may assume. And 
as you incur a danger of no ordinary character — one 
so subtle and insidious in its approaches that there is 
no ascertaining how soon it may be too late to resist it 



103 

— I believe you will be equally justified in taking 
these measures as early and decisiv^ely as in your judg- 
ment you may deem proper. 

The State of South-Carolina has been charged, and 
sometimes from high quarters, with entertaining a de- 
sire to dissolve the Union of these States ; and the ex- 
pression of a sentiment looking that way, by any of 
her citizens, is widely denounced as treasonable, if not 
blasphemous. There is no State which has given, in 
its times of trial, a more ardent or effective support to 
the Union than our own. There is no State which has 
less to gain by anarchy and revolution, or that is less 
disposed to plunge into them wantonly. Neither her 
fundamental institutions, nor ker legislation, betray a 
love of change. Her people are steady in their princi- 
ples, and loyal to their customs, laws, and constitutions. 
But their devotion is not blind. They are not to be 
defrauded of their rights under prostituted forms, how- 
ever sacred in their origin, nor deterred, either by ob- 
loquy or danger, from maintaining them. They are by 
no means insensible of the advantages of the Union. 
They are not wanting in those sentiments whick teach 
them to venerate the institutions founded, in part, by 
their own wise and heroic ancestors ; nor in that pride 
which would lead them to appreciate the glory of con- 
tinuing members of a republic extending over two mil- 
lions and a half of square miles, and whick migkt one 
day number five kundred millions of enligktened citi- 
zens. But tke Union was a compact for justice, liberty, 
and security. Wken tkese fail, its living principles are 
gone. Soutk-Carolina can kave no respect for an empty 
name— still less for one whick becomes synonymous to 
her with oppression, vassalage and danger. It is vain 



J 04 

to sound it in our ears, and claim for it our allegiance. 
Our ancestors in tlie old world, waged a successful war 
against the divine right of Kings ; and our fathers of 
the Revolution broke the yoke of Lords and Commons. 
Little has been gained for us, by these two noblest 
struggles which history records, if we are now to be 
overawed by the divine right of Union, and steeped in 
wretchedness under its violated character. The illus- 
trious man who has been called, by universal consent 
the Father of our Country, did indeed leave it to us, 
as his parting admonition, that we should cling to the 
Union as our ark of safety. But, much as we rever- 
ence his precept, his example is still dearer to us. 
Sacred as we hold his last words, we cannot throw 
them into the scale against the history of his life ; and 
that teaches us to resist oppression, from whatever 
quarter it may come, and whatever hazard is incurred. 
Coming for the first time together, having duties to 
perform which to some of you are new, and holding in 
your hands the destinies of South-Carolina, you cannot 
be too strongly impressed with the necessity of reflect- 
ing maturely on the important questions that devolve 
upon you, and of reverentially invoking to your aid 
that Almighty Power, who searches all hearts, weighs 
all motives, and metes out to all human efforts a just 
measure of success. 

J. H. HAMMOND. 



LETTER 

TO THE FREE CHURCH OF GLASGOW, ON THE SUBJECT OF SLAVERY. 

Executive Department, 
South Carolina, 21st June, 1844. 

Sir : — The last post brought me yonr communication, 
accompanying the memorial of the Presbytery of the 
Free Church of Glasgow, in behalf of John L. Brown, 
convicted in this State of aiding a slave in escaping 
from her master, and sentenced to be hung in April 
last. It will be gratifying to you, seeing the interest 
you have taken in the matter, to learn that I have par- 
doned Brown. In consequence of representations made 
to me in December last by Judge O'Neall, speaking for 
himself and the judges of the Court of Appeals, I 
commuted his punishment to thirty-nine lashes. Facts, 
not known to the jury, nor to the judges, were after- 
ward brought to my knowledge, which satisfied me 
that Brown had no criminal design in what he did ; 
and in the month of March I transmitted to him a full 
pardon. I was not at all aware, at that time, of the 
great interest taken abroad in behalf of one whose case 
I had never heard mentioned here, except on the occa- 
sions referred to ; and I was astonished to find myself 
overwhelmed soon after with voluminous petitions for 



106 

his pardon from the non-slaveholding States of this 
Union ; and to perceive that his sentence was com- 
mented on, not only by the English newspapers, but 
in the English House of Lords. The latest, and I trust 
the last communication to me on the subject, is your 
memorial. 

The interference of foreigners, or any person 
bevond our boundaries, in the execution of the munic- 
ipal laws of a sovereign State, even if in respectful 
terms, is certainly a violation of all propriety and 
courtesy ; and if carried to any extent, must become 
wholly intolerable. I pass that by, however. The 
law under which Brown was convicted, was enacted 
during our colonial existence, and is emphatically 
British law. It is also a good law. I pardoned him, 
not because I disapproved the law, but because I did 
not think he violated it. It would be the most absurd 
thing in the world to recognize by law a system of 
domestic slavery, and yet allow every one to free, not 
merely his own slaves, but those of his neighbor, when- 
ever instigated to do so by his own notions of pro- 
j^riety, his interest, or his caprice. What sort of 
security would we have for property held on such 
terms as these ? You cannot but perceive, that to per- 
mit others to take our slaves from us at pleasure with 
impunity, would amount to a total abolition of slavery. 
There would be no real difference between this, and 
allowing the slaves to go free themselves. Your Pres- 
bytery, and all the petitioners for Brown, and agitators 
of his case, must have seen the matter in this light ; 
and it is attributing to us but a small share of common 
sense, to suppose that we would not take the same view 
of it ourselves. 



107 

Whether death should be inflicted for siicli an 
ofFence is another question. We have modified in a 
great degree the sanguinary code of law left us by our 
British ancestors ; but we have not gone the length to 
which some philosophers, both here and in your coun- 
try, would have all governments to go — of abolishing 
the punishment of death. Nor do I believe the suc- 
cess vour o-overnment has met with in endeavoring to 
diminish crime by aboHshing this punishment in so 
many cases, will encourage them to press the matter 
much farther at this time. Considering the vahie of 
a slave ; the facility of seducing him from his owner ; 
the evil influence which frequent seduction might 
exercise on an institution, the destruction of which 
must speedily and inevitably strike from the roll of 
civilized States nearly the whole slaveholding section 
of this country, as it has already done St. Domingo 
and Jamaica ; and the enthusiastic and reckless enemies 
of this institution by whom we are surrounded, it 
seems to me that if any offence affecting property 
merits death, this is one. 

Your memorial, like all that have been sent to me, 
denounces slavery in the severest terms ; as " traversing 
every law of nature, and violating the most sacred 
domestic relations, and the primary rights of man." 
You and your Presbytery are Christians. You profess 
to believe, and no doubt do believe, that the laws laid 
down in the Old and New Testaments for the govern- 
ment of man, in his moral, social and political relations, 
were all the direct revelation of God himself Does it 
never occur to you, that in anathematizing slavery, you 
deny this divine sanction of those laws, and repudiate 
both Christ and Moses ; or charge God with downright 



108 

crime, in regulating and perpetuating slavery in the 
Old Testament, and the most criminal neglect, in not 
only not abolishing, but not even reprehending it, in 
the New ? If these Testaments came from God, it is 
impossible that slavery can " traverse the laws of 
nature, or violate the primary rights of man.'" What 
those laws and rights really are, mankind have not 
agreed. But they are clear to God ; and it is blas- 
phemous for any of His creatures to set up their notions 
of them in opposition to His immediate and acknowl- 
edged Revelation. Nor does our system of slavery 
outrage the most sacred domestic relations. Husbands 
and wives, parents and children, among our slaves, are 
seldom separated, except from necessity or crime. The 
same reasons induce much more frequent separations 
among the white population in this, and, I imagine, in 
almost every other country. 

But I make bold to say that the Presbytery of the 
Free Church of Glasgow, and nearly all the abolition- 
ists in every part of the world, in denouncing our 
domestic slavery, denounce a thing of which they know 
absolutely nothing — nay, which does not even exist. 
You weep over the horrors of the Middle Passage, 
which have ceased, so far as we are concerned ; and 
over pictures of chains and lashes here, wdiicli have no 
existence but in the imagination. Our sympathies are 
almost equally excited by the accounts published by 
your Committees of Parliament — and therefore true ; 
and which have been verified by the personal observa- 
tion of many of us — of the squalid misery, loathsome 
disease, and actual starvation, of multitudes of the 
unhappy laborers — not of Ireland only, but of Eng- 
land — nay, of Glasgow itself Yet we never presume 



109 

to interfere with your social or municipal regulations — 
your aggregated wealth and congregated misery — nor 
the crimes attendant on them, nor your pitiless laws 
for their suppression. And when w^e see 1)y your 
official returns, that even the best classes of Ens-lish 
agricultural laborers can obtain for their support but 
seven pounds of bread and four ounces of meat per 
week, and when sick or out of employment, must 
either starve or subsist on charity, we cannot but look 
with satisfaction to the condition of our slave laborers 
who usually receive as a weekly allowance, fifteen 
pounds of bread, and three poumh of bacon — have 
their children fed without stint, and j^roperly attended 
to — are all Avell clothed, and have comfortable dwell- 
ings, where, with their gardens and poultry yards, they 
can, if the least industrious, more than realize for 
themselves the vain hope of the great French kino-, 
that he might see every peasant in France have his 
fowl upon his table on the Sabbath — who, from the 
proceeds of their own crop, purchase even luxuries 
and finery — who labor scarcely more than nine hours 
a day, on the average of the year — and who, in sick- 
ness, in declining years, in infancy and decrepitude, are 
watched over with a tenderness scarcely short of 
parental. When we contemplate \\\Qhwimi condition 
of your operatives, of whom, that of your agricultural 
laborers is perhaps the least wretched, we are not only 
not ashamed of that of our slaves, but are always ready 
to challenge a comparison, and should be highly grat- 
ified to submit to a reciprocal investigation, by en- 
lightened and impartial judges. 

You are doubtless of opinion that all these advan- 
tages in favor of the slave, if they exist, are more than 



110 

counterbalanced by his being deprived of his freedom. 
Can you tell me ^Yhvii freedom is — v/ho possesses it, and 
how much of it is requisite for human happiness ? Is 
your operative, existing in the physical and moral con- 
dition which your own official returns depict — de- 
prived too of every political right, even that of voting 
at the polls- — who is not cheered by the slightest hope 
of ever improving his lot or leaving his children to a 
better, and who actually seeks the four walls of a 
prison, the hulks, and transportation, as comparative 
blessings — is he free — siifficAenthj free ? Can you say 
that this sort of freedom— the liberty to beg or 
steal — to choose between starvation and a prison ^ — does 
or ought to make him happier than our slave, situated 
as I have truly described him, without a single care or 
gloomy forethought % 

But you will perhaps say, it is not in the Thing, 
but in the Name, that the magic resides — that there 
is a vast difference between being called a slave and 
being made one^ though equally enslaved by law, by 
social forms, and by immutable necessity. This is an 
ideal and sentimental distinction which it will be dif- 
ficult to bring the African race to comprehend. But 
if it be true, and freedom is a name and idea, rather 
than reality, how many are there then entitled even 
to that name, except by courtesy ; and how many are 
able to enjoy the idea in perfection ? Does your ope- 
rative regard it as a sufficient compensation for the dif- 
ference between four ounces and three 2^oimds of 
bacon ? If he does, he is a rare philosopher. In your 
powerful kingdom social grade is as thoroughly estab- 
lished and acknowledged as military rank. Your com- 
monalty see among themselves a series of ascending 



Ill 

classes, and, rising above them all, many more, com- 
posed of men not a whit superior to themselves in any 
of the endowments of nature, who yet in name, in 
idea, and in fact, possess greater worldly privileges. 
To what one of all these classes does fjeimiine freedom 
belong ? To the duke, who fawns upon the prince— 
to the baron, who knuckles to the duke, or to the 
commoner, who crouches to the baron ? 

Doubtless you all boast of being ideally free ; 
while the American citizen counts your freedom slavery, 
and could not brook a state of existence in which he 
daily encountered fellow mortals, acknowledged and 
privileged as his superiors, solely by the accident of 
birth. He, too, in turn, will boast of his freedom, 
which might be just as little to your taste. I will not 
pursue this topic farther. But I think you must admit 
that there is not so much in a name ; and that ideal or 
imputed freedom is a very uncertain source of happi- 
ness. 

You must also agree, that it would be a bold thing 
for you or any one to undertake to solve the great 
problem of good and evil— happiness and misery, and 
decide in what worldly condition man enjoys most, and 
suffers least. Your profession calls on you to teach 
that his true happiness is seldom found upon the 
stormy sea of politics, or in the mad race of ambition, 
in the pursuits of mammon, or the cares of hoarded 
gain ; that, in short, the wealth and honors of this 
world are to be despised and shunned. Will you then 
say, that the slave must be wretched, because he is 
debarred from them ? or because he does not indulge 
in the dreams of philosophy, the wrangling of secta- 
rians, or the soul-disturbing speculations of the skeptic ? 



112 

or because, having never tasted of what is called free- 
dom, he is ignorant of its ideal blessings, and as con- 
tented with his lot, such as it is, as most men are with 
theirs ? 

You and your Presbytery doubtless desire, as we 
all should, to increase the happiness of the human 
family. But since it is so difficult, if not impossible, 
to determine in what earthly state man may expect to 
enjoy most of it, why can you not be content, to leave 
him in that respect where God has placed him ; to 
give up the ideal and the doubtful, for the real ; to 
restrict yourselves to the faithful fulfilment of your 
great mission of preaching " the glad tidings of salva- 
tion" to all classes and conditions ; or, at the very least, 
sacredly abstain from all endeavors to ameliorate the 
lot of man by revolution, bloodshed, massacre, and 
desolation, to which all attempts at abolition in this 
country, in the present, and, so far as I can see, in any 
future age, must inevitably lead ? 

Be satisfied with the improvement which slavery 
has made, and which nothing but slavery could have 
made to the same extent, in the race of Ham. Look 
at the negro in Africa — a naked savage — almost a 
cannibal, ruthlessly oppressing and destroying his fel- 
lows ; idle, treacherous, idolatrous, and such a disgrace 
to the image of his God, in which you declare him to 
be made, that some of the wisest philosophers have 
denied him the possession of a soul. See him here — 
three millions at least of his rescued race — civilized, 
contributing immensely to the subsistence of the 
human family, his passions restrained, his affections 
cultivated, his bodily wants and infirmities provided 
for, and the true reliorion of his Maker and Redeemer 



118 

taugtt liim. Has slavery been a curse to him ? Can 
you think God has ordained it for no good purpose ? 
or, not content with the blessings it has already 
bestowed, do you desire to increase them still ? Be- 
fore you act, be sure your heavenly Father has revealed 
to you the means. Wait for the inspiration which 
brought the Israelites out of Egypt, which carried 
salvation to the Gentiles. 

I have written you a longer letter than I intended. 
But the question of slavery is a much more interesting 
subject to us, involving, as it does, the fate of all that 
we hold dear, than anything connected with John L. 
Brown can be to you ; and I trust you will read my 
reply with as much consideration as I have read your 
memorial. 

I have the honor to be, very respectfully. 
Your obedient servant, 

J. H. HAMMOND. 

To the Rev. Thomas Brown, D.D., Moderator of the Free Church of 
Glasgow, and to the Presbytery thereof. 



TWO LETTERS 



ON THE SUBJECT OF SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES, ADDRESSED TO 
THOMAS CLARKSON, Esq. 



Silver Bluff, South Caeoi.ixa, 
January 28, 1845. 

Sir : — I receive'! a short time ago, a letter from the 
Rev. WiLLOUGHBY M. Dickinson, dated at your resi- 
dence, '-Playford Hall, near Ipswich, 26th Nov., 1S44," 
in which was inclosed a copy of your Circular Letter 
addressed to professing Christians in our Northern 
States, having no concern with Slavery, and to others 
there. I presume that Mr. Dickinson's letter was 
written with your knowledge, and the document in- 
closed with your consent and approbation. I there- 
fore feel that there is no impropriety in my addressing 
my reply directly to yourself, especially as there is 
nothing in Mr. Dickinson's communication requiring 
serious notice. Having abundant leisure, it will be a 
recreation to devote a portion of it to an examination 
and free discussion of the question of Slavery as it 
exists in our Southern States; and since you have 
thrown down the gauntlet to me, I do not hesitate to 
take it up. 

Familiar as you have been with the discussions of 
this subject in all its aspects, and under all the excite- 



115 



ments it has occasioned for sixty years past, I may not 
be able to present mucli that v/ill be new to you. 
Nor ought I to indulge the liope of materially afiectinf'- 
the opinions you have so long cherished, and so zeal- 
ously promulgated. Still, time and experience have 
developed facts, constantly furnishing fresh tests to 
opinions formed sixty years since, and continually 
placing this great question in points of view, which 
could scarcely occur to the most consumate intellect 
even a quarter of a century ago ; and which may not 
iiave occurred yet to those whose previous convictions, 
prejudices and habitt.J of thought have thoroughly and 
permanently l)iassed them to one fixed way of looking 
at the matter; while there are peculiaiities in the 
operation of every social system, and special local as 
well as moral causes materially affecting it, which no 
one, placed at the distance you are from us, can fully 
comprehend or properly appreciate. Besides, it may 
be possibly, a novelty to you to encounter one who 
conscientiously believes the Domestic Slavery of these 
States to be not only an inexorable necessity for the 
present, but a moi-al and humane institution, produc- 
tive of the greatest political and social advantages, and 
who is disposed, as I am, to defend it on these grounds. 
I do not propose, however, to defend the African 
Slave Trade. That is no longer a question. Doubt- 
less great evils arise from it as it has been, and is now 
conducted : unnecessary wars and cruel kidnappin^^ in 
Africa ; the most shocking barbarities in the Middle 
Passage ; and perhaps a less humane system of slavery 
in countries continually supplied with fresh laborers at a 
cheap rate. The evils of it, however, it may be fairly 
presumed, are greatly exaggerated. And if I might 



116 

judge of the truth of transactions stated as occurring 
in this trade, by that of those reported as transpiring 
among us, I should not hesitate to say, that a large 
proportion of the stories in circulation are unfounded, 
and most of the remainder highly colored. 

On the passage of the Act of Parliament pro- 
hibiting this trade to British subjects rests what you 
esteem the glory of your life. It required twenty 
years of arduous agitation, and the intervening ex- 
traordinary political events, to convince your country- 
men, and among the rest your pious King, of the 
expediency of the measure; and it is but just to say, 
that no one individual rendered more essential service 
to the cause than you did. In reflecting on the subject, 
you cannot but often ask yourself: What after all has 
been accomplished ; how much human suffering has 
been averted ; how many human beings have been 
rescued, from transatlantic slavery? And on the 
answers you can give these questions, must in a great 
measure, I presume, depend the happiness of your life. 
In framing them, how frequently must you be re- 
minded of the remark of Mr. Grosvenor, in one of the 
early debates upon the subject, which I believe you 
have yourself recorded, "that he had twenty objec- 
tions to the abolition of the Slave Trade : the first 
was, that it was impossible — the rest he need not give." 
Can you say to yourself, or to the world, that this j^/w^ 
objection of Mr. Grosvenor has been yet confuted. It 
was estimated at the commencement of your agitation 
in 1787, that forty-five thousand Africans were an- 
nually transported to America and the West Indies. 
And the mortality of the Middle Passage, computed 
by some at 5, is now admitted not to have exceeded 9 



117 

per cent. Notwithstanding your Act of Parliament, 
the previous abolition by the United States, and that 
all the powers in the world have subsequently pro- 
hibited this trade — some of the greatest of them 
declaring it piracy, and covering the African seas with 
armed vessels to prevent it — Sir Thomas Fowel Bux- 
ton, a coadjutor of yours, declared in 1840, that the 
number of Africans now annually sold into slavery 
beyond the sea, amounts, at the very least, to one 
hundred and fifty thousand souls ; while the mortality 
of the Middle Passage has increased, in consequence of 
the measures taken to suppress the trade, to 25 or 30 
per cent. And of the one hundred and fifty thousand 
slaves who have been captured and liberated by British 
men of-war since the passage of your Act, Judge 
Jay, an American Abolitionist, asserts that one hundred 
thousand, or two-thirds, have perished between their 
capture and liberation. Does it not really seem that 
Mr. Grosvenor was a Prophet? That though nearly 
all the "impossibilities" of 1787 have vanished, and 
become as familiar facts as our household customs, 
under the magic influence of Steam, Cotton and univer- 
sal peace, yet this wonderful prophecy still stands, 
defying time and the energy and genius of mankind. 
Thousands of valuable lives and fifty millions of pounds 
sterling have been thrown away by your government 
in fruitless attempts to overturn it. I hope you have 
not lived too long for your own happiness, though you 
have been thus spared to see that, in spite of all your 
toils and those of your fellow laborers, and the accom- 
plishment of all that human agency could do, the 
African Slave Trade has increased threefold under 
your own eyes — more rapidly, perhaps, than any other 
8 



118 

ancient branch of commerce — and that your efforts to 
suppress it have effected notJiing more than a three- 
fold increase of its horrors. There is a Grod who rules 
this world— All powerful— Farseeing : He does not 
permit His creatures to foil His designs. It is He 
who, for His allwise, though to us often inscrutable 
purposes, throws " impossibilities " in the way of our 
fondest hopes and most strenuous exertions. Can you 
doubt this ? 

Expei'ieuce having settled the point that this Trade 
cannot he aholished hy the use offorce^ and that block- 
ading squadrons serve only to make it more profitable 
and more cruel, I am surprised that the attempt is per- 
sisted in, unless it serves as a cloak to other purposes. 
It would be far better than it now is, for the African, 
if the trade was free from all restrictions, and left to 
the mitigation and decay which time and competition 
would surely bring about. If kidnapping, both secret- 
ly and by war made for the purpose, could be by any 
means prevented in Africa, tlie next greatest blessing 
you could bestow upon that country would be to trans- 
port its actual slaves in comfortable vessels across the 
Atlantic. Though they might be perpetual bondsmen, 
still they would emerge from darkness into light — 
from barbarism to civilization — from idolatry to Chris- 
tianity — in short from death to life. 

But let us leave the African slave trade, which has 
so signally defeated the Philanthropy of the world, 
and turn to American slavery, to which you have now 
directed your attention, and against which a crusade 
has been preached as enthusiastic and ferocious as that 
of Peter the Hermit — destined, I believe, to be about 
as successful. And, here let me say, there is a vast dif- 



119 

ference between the two, though you may not acknowl- 
edge it. The wisdom of ages has concurred in the just- 
ice and expediency of establishing rights by prescrip- 
tive use, however tortious, in their origin, they may 
have been. You would deem a man insane, whose keen 
sense of equity would lead him to denounce your i-ight 
to the lands you hold, and which perhaps you inherited 
from a long line of ancestry, because your title was de- 
rived from a Saxon or Norman conqueror, and your 
lands were originally wrested by violence from the 
vanquished Britons. And so would the New England 
Abolitionist regard any one who would insist that he 
should restore his farm to the descendants of the 
slaughtered Red men, to whom God had as clearly 
given it as he gave life and freedom to the kidnapped 
African. That time does not consecrate wrong, is a 
fallacy which all history exposes ; and which the best 
and wisest men of all ages and professions of relig- 
ious faith have practically denied. The means, there- 
fore, whatever they may have been, by which the Afri- 
can race now in this country have been reduced to 
slavery, cannot affect us, since they are our property, 
as your land is yours, by inheritance or purchase and 
prescriptive right. You will say that man cannot hold 
property in man. The answer is, that he can and act- 
ually does hold property in his fellow all the world 
over, in a variety of forms, and has always done so. 
I will show presently his authority for doing it. 

If you were to ask me whether I am an advocate 
of slavery in the abstract, I should probably answer, 
that I am not, according to my understanding of the 
question. I do not like to deal in abstractions. It 
seldom leads to any useful ends. There are few univer- 



120 

sal truths. I do not now remember any single moral 
truth universally acknowledged. We have no assur- 
ance that it is given to our finite understanding to com- 
prehend abstract moral truth. Apart from^ Revela- 
tion and the Inspired Writings, what ideas should we 
have even of God, Salvation and Immortality ? Let 
the Heathen answer. Justice itself is impalpable as an 
abstraction, and abstract liberty the merest phantasy 
that ever amused the imagination. This world was 
made for man, and man for the world as it is. We our- 
selves, our relations with one another and with all 
matter are real, not ideal. I might say that I am no 
more in favor of slavery in the abstract, than I am of 
poverty, disease, deformity, idiocy or any other in- 
equality in the condition of the human family ; that I 
love perfection, and think I should enjoy a Millennium 
such as God has promised. But what would it amount 
to ? A pledge that I would join you to set about erad- 
icating those apparently inevitable evils of our nature, 
in equalizing the condition of all mankind, consummat- 
ing the perfection of our race, and introducing the 
Millennium ? By no means. To effect these things, be- 
longs exclusively to a Higher Power. And it would 
be well for us to leave the Almighty to perfect His 
own works and fulfil His own covenants ; especially, 
as the history of the past shows how entirely futile all 
human efforts have proved, when made for the purpose 
of aiding Him in carrying out even his revealed de- 
signs, and how invariably he has accomplished them 
by unconscious instruments, and in the face of human 
expectation. Nay more, that every attempt which has 
been made by fallible man to extort from the world 
obedience to his " abstract" notions of right and wrong, 



121 

has been invariably attended with calamities, dire and 
extended, just in proportion to the bi-eadth- and vigor 
of the movement. On slavery in the abstract, then, it 
would not b6 amiss to have as little as possible to say. 
Let us contemplate it as it is. And thus contemplating 
it, the first question we have to ask ourselves is, wheth- 
er it is contrar}^ to the Will of God, as revealed to us 
in His Holy Scriptures — the only certain means given 
us to ascertain His Will. If it is, then slavery is a sin ; 
and I admit at once that every man is bound to set 
his face against it, and to emancipate his slaves should 
he hold any. 

Let us open these Holy Scriptures. In the twen- 
tieth chapter of Exodus, seventeenth verse, I find the 
following words : " Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's 
house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his 
man-servant nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his 
ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's " — which is the 
Tenth of those commandments that declare the essen- 
tial principles of the Great Moral Law delivered to 
Moses by God Himself. Now, discarding all technical 
and verbal quibbling as wholly unworthy to be used 
in interpreting the word of God, what is the y^lain 
meaning, undoubted intent, and true spirit of this com- 
mandment ? Does it not emphatically and explicitly 
forbid you to disturb your neighbor in the enjoyment 
of his property; and more especially of that which is 
here specifically mentioned as being lawfully and by 
this commandment made sacredly his ? Prominent in 
the catalogue stands his "man-servant and his maid- 
servant," who are thus distinctly consecrated as liis prop- 
erty and guaranteed to him for his exclusive benefit 
in the most solemn manner. You attempt to avert 



122 

the otherwise irresistible conclusion, that slavery was 
thus ordained by God, by declaring that the word 
"slave" is not used here, and is not to be found in the 
Bil^le. And I have seen many learned dissertations 
on this point from Abolition pens. It is well known 
that both the Hebrew and Greek words translated "ser- 
vant " in the Scriptures, mean also and most usually 
" slave." The use of the one word instead of the other 
was a mere matter of taste with the Translators of the 
Bible, as it has been with all the commentators and 
reliofious writers ; the latter of whom have I believe 
for the most part adopted the term " slave," or used 
both terms indiscriminately. If, then, these He- 
brew and Greek words include tbe idea of both sys- 
tems of servitude, the conditional and unconditional, 
they should, as the major includes the minor 23roposi- 
tion, be always translated "slaves," unless the sense of 
the whole text forbids it. The real question, then, is, 
what idea is intended to be conveyed by the vi^ords 
used in the commandment quoted ? And it is clear to 
my mind that as no limitation is affixed to them, 
and the express intention was to secure to mankind 
the peaceful enjoyment of every species of property, 
the terms " Men servants and Maid servants " in- 
clude all classes of servants, and establish a lawful, ex- 
clusive and indefeasible interest equally in the " He'* 
brew Brother who shall go out in the seventh year " 
and " the yearly hired servant," and those " purchased 
from the Heathen round about," and were to be " Bond- 
men forever," as ilie property of thew fellow man. 

You cannot deny that there were among the He- 
brews " Bond-men forever." You cannot deny that 
God especially authorized his chosen people to purchase 



123 

" Bond-men forever " from the Heathen, as recorded 
in the 2bth Glia^. of Leviticus^ and that they are there 
designated by the very Hebrew word used in the Tenth 
commandment. Nor can you deny that a " Bo]\T)-man 
Forevee" is a " Slave ;" yet you endeavor to hang an 
argument of immortal consequence upon the wretched 
subterfuge, that the precise word " slave " is not to be 
found in the translation of the Bible ; as if the Trans- 
lators were canonical expounders of the Holy Scrip- 
tures, and flieir loords, not GocPs mmning^ must be re- 
garded as His Revelation. 

It is vain to look to Christ or any of his Apostles 
to justify such blasphemous perversions of the word of 
God. Although slavery in its most revolting form 
was everywhere visible around them, no visionary no- 
tions of piety or philanthropy ever tempted them to 
gainsay the Law, even to mitigate the cruel severity 
of the existing system. On the contrary, regarding 
slavery as an estahlished as well as inevitable condition 
of human society^ they never hinted at such a thing as 
its termination on earth, any more than that "the poor 
may cease out of the land," which God affirms to Moses 
shall never be ; and they exhort " all servants under 
the yoke " to " count their masters as worthy of all 
honor ; " " to obey them in all things according to the 
flesh ; not with eye-service as men-pleasers, but in sin- 
gleness of heart, fearing God ; " " not only the good and 
gentle, but also the fro ward ; " " for what glory is it if 
when ye are buffeted for your faults ye shall take it 
patiently ? but if when ye do well and suffer for it ye 
take it patiently, this is acceptable of God." St. Paul 
actually apprehended a runaway slave and sent him to 
his master ! Instead of deriving from the Gospel any 



124 

sanction for the work you have undertaken, it would 
be difficult to imagine sentiments and conduct more 
strikingly in contrast than those of the Apostles and 
the Abolitionists. 

It is impossible therefore to suppose that slavery is 
contrary to the Will of God. It is equally absurd to 
say that American slavery differs in form or principle 
from that of the chosen People* We accept the Bible 
terms as the definition of our slavery^ and its precepts 
as the guide of our conduct. We desire nothing more. 
Even the right to " buffet," which is esteemed so shock- 
ing, finds its express license in the Gospel. 1 Peter ii. 
20. Nay, what is more, God directs the Hebrews to 
" bore holes in the ears of their brothers" to "inarlc them, 
when under certain circumstances they become 'perpet- 
ual slaves. Ex. xxi. 6. 

I think, then, I may safely conclude, and I firmly 
believe, that American slavery is not only not a sin, 
but especially commanded by God through Moses, and 
approved by Christ through His Apostles. And here 
I might close its defence ; for what God ordains and 
Christ sanctifies should surely command the respect 
and toleration of Man. But I fear there has grown 
up in our time a Transcendental Keligion which is throw- 
ing even Transcendental Philosophy into the shade — 
a Religion too pure and elevated for the Bible ; which 
seeks to erect among men a higher standard of Morals 
than the Almighty has revealed, or our Saviour preached ; 
and which is probably destined to do more to impede 
the extension of God's Kingdom on earth than all the 
Infidels who have ever lived. Error is error. It is 
as dangerous to deviate to the right hand as the left. 
And when men professing to be holy men, and who 



125 

are by numbers so regarded, declare those things to be 
sinful which our Creator has expressly authorized and 
instituted, they do more to destroy his authority among 
mankind, than the most wicked can effect by proclaim- 
ing that to be innocent which he has forbidden. To 
this self-righteous and self-exalted class belong all the 
Abolitionists whose writings I have read. With them 
it is no end of the argument to prove your propositions 
by the text of the Bible, interpreted according to its 
plain and palpable meaning, and as understood by all 
mankind for three thousand years before their time. 
They are more ingenious at construing and interpolat- 
ing to accommodate it to their new-fangled and etherial 
code of morals, than ever were Voltaire <fe Hume in 
picking it to pieces to free the w^orld from what they 
considered a delusion. When the Abolitionists pro- 
claim " man-stealing " to be a sin, and show me that it 
is so written down by God, I admit them to be right, 
and shudder at the idea of such a crime. But when I 
sho^ them that to hold "bond-men forever" is ordained 
by God, they deny the Bible^ and set up in its place a 
Lata of their man 'nidkimg. I must then cease to reason 
with them on this branch of the question. Our reli- 
gion differs as widely as our manners. The Great 
Judge in the day of final account must decide between 
us. 

Turning from the consideration of slave-holding in 
its relations to man as an accountable beiusr, let us ex- 
amine it in its influence on his political and social state. 
Though, being foreigners to us, you are in no wise 
entitled to interfere with the civil institutions of 
this country, it has become quite common for your 
countrymen to decry slavery as an enormous political 



126 

evil to us, and even to declare that our Nothern States 
ought to withdraw from the Confederacy rather than 
continue to be contaminated by it. The American Abo- 
litionists appear to concur fully in these sentiments, and 
a portion at least of them are incessantly threatening to 
dissolve the Union. Nor should I be at all surprised if 
they succeed. It would not be difficult, in my opinion, to 
conjecture which region, the North or South, would 
suffer most by such an event. For one I should not 
object, by any means, to cast my lot in a confederacy 
of States whose citizens might all be slave-holders. 

I endorse without reserve the much-abused senti- 
ment of Gov. M'Duffie, that "slavery is the corner 
stone of our Republican edifice ; " while I repudiate, as 
ridiculously absurd, that much-lauded but nowhere 
accredited dogma of Mr. Jefferson, that "all men are 
born equal." No Society has ever yet existed, and I 
have already incidentally quoted the highest authority 
to show that none will ever exist, without a natural 
variety of classes. The most marked of these must, in a 
country like ours, be the rich and the poor, the educated 
and the ignorant. It will scarcely be disputed that the 
very poor have less leisure to prepare themselves for 
the proper discharge of public duties than the rich ; 
and that the ignorant are wholly unfit for them at all. 
In all countries save ours these two classes, or the poor 
rather, who are presumed to be necessarily ignorant, 
are by law expressly excluded from all participation 
in the management of public affairs. In a Republican 
Government this cannot be done. Universal suffrage, 
though not essential in theory, seems to be in fact a 
necessary appendage to a Republican system. Where 
universal suffrage obtains, it is obvious that the govern- 



127 

ment is in the hands of a numerical majority ; and it is 
hardly necessary to say that in every part of the world 
more than half the people are ignorant and poor. 
Though no one can look upon poverty as a crime, and 
we do not generally here regard it as any objection to 
a man in his individual capacity, still it must be admit- 
ted that it is a wretched and insecure government which 
is administered by its most ignorant citizens, and those 
who have the least at stake under it. Though intelli- 
gence and wealth have great influence here as every- 
where in keeping in check reckless and unenlightened 
numbers, yet it is evident to close observers, if not to 
all, that these are rapidly usurping all power in the 
non-slave-holding States, and threaten a fearful crisis 
in Republican institutions there at no remote period. 
In the slave-holding States, however, nearly one-half 
of the whole population, and those the poorest and most 
ignorant, have no political influence whatever, because 
they are slaves. Of the other half a large proportion 
are both educated and independent in their circum- 
stances ; while those who unfortunately are not so, being 
still elevated far above the mass, are higher toned and 
more deeply interested in preserving a stable and well 
ordered Government, than the same class in any other 
country. Hence, slavery is truly the " corner stone " 
and foundation of every well-designed and durable 
" Kepublican edifice." 

With us every citizen is concerned in the mainten- 
ance of order, and in promoting honesty and industry 
among those of the lowest class who are our slaves ; 
and our habitual vigilance renders standing armies, 
whether of soldiers or policemen, entirely unnecessary. 
Small guards in our cities, and occasional patrols in the 



128 

country, ensure us a repose and security known no- 
where else. You cannot be ignorant tliat, excepting 
the United States, there is no country in the world 
whose existing Government would not be overturned 
in a month, but for its standing armies, maintained at 
an enormous and destructive cost to those whom they 
are destined to overawe — so rampant and combative 
is the spirit of discontent wherever nominal Free labor 
prevails, with its ostensive privileges and its dismal 
servitude. Nor will it be long before the " Free States " 
of this Union will be compelled to introduce the same 
expensive machinery to preserve order among their 
" free and equal " citizens. Already has Philadelphia 
organized a permanent Battalion for this purpose ; New 
York, Boston and Cincinnati will soon follow her ex- 
ample ; and then the smaller towns and densely popu- 
lated counties. The intervention of their militia to re- 
press violations of the peace is becoming a daily affair. 
A strong Government, after some of the old fashions — 
though probably with a new name — sustained by the 
force of armed mercenaries, is the ultimate destiny of 
the non-slave-holding section of this confederacy, and 
one which may not be very distant. 

It is a great mistake to suppose, as is generally done 
abroad, that in case of war slavery would be a source 
of weakness. It did not weaken Rome, nor Athens, 
nor Sparta ; though their slaves were comparatively far 
more numerous than ours, of the same color for the 
most part with themselves, and large numbers of them 
familiar with the use of arms. I have no apprehension 
that our slaves would seize such an opportunity to revolt. 
The present generation of them, born among us, would 
never think of such a thing at any time, unless insti- 



129 

gated to it by others. Against such instigations we 
are always on our guard. In time of war we should 
be more watchful and better prepared to put down in- 
surrections than at any other periods. Should any for- 
eign nation be so lost to every sentiment of civilized 
humanity as to attempt to erect among us the standard 
of revolt, or to invade us with Black Troops for the 
base and barbarous purpose of stirring up servile war, 
their efforts would be signally rebuked. Our slaves 
could not be easily seduced, nor would anything de- 
light them more than to assist in stripping Cuffee of 
his regimentals to put him in the Cotton-field, which 
would be the fate of most black invaders, without any 
very prolix form of " apprenticeship." If, as I am sat- 
isfied would be the case, our slaves remained peaceful 
on our plantations, and cultivated them in time of war 
under the superintendence of a limited number of our 
citizens, it is obvious that we could put forth more 
strength in such an emergency, at less sacrifice, than 
any other people of the same numbers. And thus we 
should, in every point of view, "out of this nettle dan- 
ger, pluck the flower safety."" 

How far slavery may be an advantage or disadvan- 
tage to those not owning slaves, yet united with us in 
political association, is a question for their sole conside- 
ration. It is true that our Eepresentation in Congress 
is increased by it. But so are our Taxes ; and the non- 
slave-holding States, being the majority, divide among 
themselves far the greater portion of the amount levied 
by the Federal Government. And I doubt not that, 
when it comes to a close calculation, they will not be 
slow in finding out that the balance of profit arising 
from the connection is vastly in their favor. 



130 

In a social point of view the Abolitionists pronounce 
slavery to be a monstrous evil. If it was so, it would 
be our own peculiar concern, and superfluous benevo- 
lence in tbem to lament over it. Seeing their bitter 
hostility to us, they might leave us to cope with our 
own calamities. But they make war upon us out of 
excess of charity, and attempt to purify by covering 
us with calumny. You have read and assisted to cir- 
culate a great deal about affrays, duels and murders oc- 
curring here, and all attributed to the terrible demor- 
alization of slavery. Not a single event of this sort 
takes place among us, but is caught up by the Aboli- 
tionists and paraded over the world with endless com- 
ments, variations and exaggerations. You should not 
take what reaches you as a mere sample, and infer that 
there is a vast deal more you never hear. You hear 
all, and more than all the truth. 

It is true that the point of honor is recognized 
throughout the slave region, and that disputes of cer- 
tain classes are frequently referred for adjustment to 
the " trial by combat." It would not be appropiiate 
for me to enter, in this letter, into a defence of the 
practice of duelling; nor to maintain at length that it 
does not tarnish the character of a people to acknowl- 
edge a standard of honor. Whatever evils may arise 
from it, however, they cannot be attributed to slavery ; 
since the same custom prevails both in France and Eng- 
land. Few of your Prime Ministers, of the last half cen- 
tury even, have escaped the contagion, I believe. The af- 
frays, of which so much is said, and in which rifles, bow- 
ieknives and pistols are so prominent, occur mostly in 
Frontier States of the South-West. They are naturally 
incidental to the condition of society as it exists in many 



131 

sections of these recently settled countries, and will as 
naturally cease in due time. Adventurers from the 
older States and from Europe, as desperate in charac- 
ter as they are in fortune, congregate in these wild re- 
gions, jostling one another and often forcing the peace- 
able and honest into rencontres in self-defence. Sla- 
very has nothing to do with these things. Stability and 
peace are the first desires of every slave-holder, and the 
true tendency of the system. It could not possibly exist 
amid the eternal anarchy and civil broils of the ancient 
Spanish dominions in America. And for this very 
reason domestic slavery has ceased there. So far from 
encouraging strife, such scenes of riot and bloodshed 
as have within the last few years disgraced our Nor- 
thern cities, and as you have lately witnessed in Bir- 
mingham and Bristol and Wales, not only never have 
occurred, but I will venture to say never will occur in 
our slave-holding States. The only thing that can cre- 
ate a mob (as you might call it) here, is the appearance 
of an Abolitionist, whom the people assemble to chas- 
tise. And this is no more of a mob, than a rally of 
shepherds to chase a wolf out of their pastures would 
be one. 

But we are swindlers and repudiators ! Pennsyl- 
vania is not a slave State. A majority of the States 
which have failed to meet their obligations punctually 
are nou-slave-holdiug ; and two-thirds of the debt said 
to be repudiated is owed by these States. Many of 
the States of this Union are heavily encumbered with 
debt — none so hopelessly as England. Pennsylvania 
owes $22 for each inhabitant — England $222, countino- 
her paupers in. Nor has there been any i-epudiation 
definite and final, of a lawful debt, that I am aware of. 



132 

A few States have failed to pay some instalments of 
interest. The extraordinary financial difficulties which 
occurred a few years ago account for it. Time will set 
all things right again. Every dollar of both principal 
and interest owed by any State, North our South, will 
be ultimately paid ; unle-S'S the abolition of slavery over- 
whelms us ail in one common ruin. But have no 
other nations failed to pay ? When were the French 
assifrnats redeemed? How much interest did your 
National Bank pay on its immense circulation from 
1797 to 1821, during which period that circulation 
was inconvertible, and for the time repudiated f How 
much of your National Debt has been incurred for 
money borrowed to meet the interest on it ; thus avoid- 
ing delinquency in detail, by ensuring inevitable bank- 
ruptcy and repudiation in the end ? And what sort 
of operation was that by which your present ministry 
recently expunged a handsome amount of that debt by 
substituting, through a process just not compulsory, 
one species of security for another ? I am well aware 
that the faults of others do not excuse our own ; but 
when failings are charged to slavery, which are shown 
to occur to equal extent where it does not exist, surely 
slavery must be acquitted of the accusation. 

It is roundly asserted, that we are not so well edu- 
cated nor so religious here as elsewhere. I will not go 
into tedious statistical statements on these subjects. 
Nor have I, to tell the truth, much confidence in the 
details of what are commonly set forth as statistics. 
As to education, you will probably admit that slave- 
holders should have more leisure for mental culture 
than most people. And I believe it is charged against 
them that they are peculiarly fond of power, and am- 



133 

bitious of honors. If this be so, as all the power and 
honors of this country are won mainly by intellectual 
superiority it might be fairl}^ presumed that slave- 
holders would not be neglectful of education. In proof 
of the accuracy of this presumption I point you to the 
facts, that our Presidential chair has been occupied for 
forty-four out of fifty -six years by slave-holders ; that 
another has been recently elected to fill it for four 
more, over an opponent wiio was a slave-holder also ; 
and that in the Federal offices and both Houses of 
Congress considerably more than a due proportion of 
those acknowledged to stand in the first rank are from 
the South. In this arena the intellects of the free and 
slave States meet in full and fair competition. Nature 
must have been unusually bountiful to us, or we have 
been at least reasonably assiduous in the cultivation of 
such gifts as she has bestowed — unless indeed you 
refer our superiority to moral qualities, which I am 
sure you will not. More wealthy we are not ; nor 
would mere wealth avail in such rivalry. 

The piety of the South is unobtrusive. We think 
it proves but little, though it is a confident thing for a 
man to claim that he stands higher in the estimation 
of his Creator, and is less a sinner than his neisrhbor. 
If vociferation is to carry the question of religion, the 
Noi-th and probably the Scotch have it. Our sects 
are few, harmonious, pretty much united among them- 
selves, and pursue their avocations in humble peace. 
In fact, our professors of religion seem to think — 
whether correctly or not — that it is their duty " to do 
good in secret " and to carry their holy, comforts to 
the heart of each individual, without reference to class 
or color^ for his sjiecial enjoyment, and not with a view 
9 



134 

to exhibit their zeal before the world. So fur as num- 
bers are concerned, I believe our clergymen, when 
called on to make a showing, have never had occasion 
to blush, if comparisons were drawn between the free 
and slave States. And although our presses do not 
teem with controversial pamphlets, nor our pulpits 
shade with excommunicating thunders, the daily walk 
of our religious communicants furnishes apparently as 
little food for gossip as is to be found in most other 
regions. It may be regarded as a mark of our want of 
excitability — though that is a quality accredited to us 
in an eminent degree — that few of the remarkable 
religious i-wis of the present day have taken root 
amono^ us. We have been so irreverent as to lausrh at 
Mormonism and Millerism, which have created such 
commotions farther North ; and modern prophets have 
no honor in our country. Shakers, Kappists, Dunkers, 
Socialists, Fourrierists and the like keep themselves 
afar off. Even Puseyism has not yet moved us. You 
may attribute this to our Domestic Slavery if you 
choose. I believe you would do so justly. There is 
no material here for such characters to oj^erate upon. 

But your grand charge is that licentiousness in in- 
tercourse between the sexes is a prominent trait of our 
social system, and that it necessarily arises from 
slavery. This is a favorite theme with the Abolition- 
ists, male and female. Folios have been written on it. 
It is a common observation, that there is no subject on 
which ladies of eminent virtue so much delight to 
dwell, and on which, in especial, learned old maids like 
Miss Martineau linger with such an insatiable relish 
They expose it in the slave States with the most minute 
observance and endless iteration. Miss Martineau, with 



135 

peculiar gusto, relates a series of scandalous stories 
which would have made Boccaccio jealous of her pen, 
but which are so ridiculously false as to leave no 
doubt that some wicked wag, knowing she would 
write a book, has furnished her materials — a game too 
often played on tourists in this country. The con- 
stant recurrence of the female Abolitionists to this 
topic, and their bitterness in regard to it, cannot fail to 
suggest to even the most charitable mind, that 

" Such rage without betrays the fires within." 

Nor are their immaculate coadjutors of the other sex, 
though perhaps less specific in their charges, less violent 
in their denunciations. But recently in your island a 
clergyman has, at a public meeting, stigmatized the 
whole slave region as a " Brothel." Do these people 
thus cast stones being " without sin ?" Or do they only 

" Compound for sins tliey are inclined to 
By damning those they have no mind to." 

Alas that David and Solomon should be allowed to re- 
pose in peace — that Leo should be almost canonized, 
and Luther more than sainted — that in our own day 
courtesans should be formally licensed in Paris, and 
tenements in London rented for years to women of the 
town for the benefit of the Church, with the knowledire 
of the Bishop — and the poor Slave States of America 
alone pounced upon and offered up as a holocaust on 
the Altar of Immaculateness to atone for the abuse of 
natural instinct by all mankind ; and if not actually 
consumed, at least exposed, anathematized and held up 
to scorn, by those who 

" write 
Or with a Rival's or an Eunuch's spite." 



136 

But I do not intend to admit that this charge is just 
or true. Without meaning to profess uncommon mod- 
esty, I will say that I wish the topic could be avoided. 
I am of opinion, and I doubt not every right-minded 
man will concur, that the public exposure and discus- 
sion of this vice, even to rebuke, invariably does more 
harm than good ; and if it cannot be checked by instil- 
ling pure and virtuous sentiments, it is far worse than 
useless to attempt to do it by exhibiting its deform- 
ities. I may not, however, pass it over ; nor ought I to 
feel any delicacy in examining a question to which the 
Slave-holder is invited and challenged by Clergymen 
and Virgins. So far from allowing, then, that licen- 
tiousness pervades this region, I broadly assert, and I 
refer to the records of our Courts, to the public press, 
and to the knowledge of all who have ever lived here, 
that among our white population, there are fewer cases 
of divorce, separation, crim. con. seduction, rape and 
bastardy, than among any other five millions of people 
on the civilized earth. And this fact I believe will be 
conceded by the Abolitionists of this country them^ 
selves. I am almost willing to refer it to them and 
submit to their decision on it. I would not hesitate to 
do so if I thought them capable of an impartial judg 
ment on any matter where Slavery is in question. Bu' 
it is said that the licentiousness consists in the constan 
intercourse between white males and colored females 
One of your heavy charges against us has been that w- 
regard and treat these people as brutes; you nov 
charge us with habitually taking them to our bosom; 
I will not comment on the inconsistency of these accuf 
ations. I will not deny that some intercourse of th 
sort does take place. Its character and extent, how 



137 

ever, are grossly and atrociously exaggerated. No au 
thority divine or human has yet been found sufficient 
to arrest all such irregularities among men. But it is 
a known ftict, that they are perpetrated here, for the 
most part, in the cities. Very few mulattoes are rear- 
ed on our plantations. In the cities a large propoi'tion 
of the inhabitants do not own slaves. A still laro-er 
proportion are natives of the North or foreigners. 
They should share, and justly, too, an equal part in this 
sin with the slave-holders. Facts cannot be ascertain- 
ed, or I doubt not it would appear that they are the 
chief offenders. If the truth be otherwise, then persons 
fi-om abroad have stronger prejudices against the 
African race than we have. Be this as it may, it is 
well known that this intercoui'se is regarded in our so- 
ciety as highly disreputable. If carried on habitually 
it seriously affects a man's standing, so far as it is 
known ; and he who takes a colored misti-ess — with 
rare and extraordinary exceptions — loses caste at once. 
You will say that one exception should damn our whole 
country. How much less criminal is it to take a white 
mistress ? In your eyes it should be at least an ecpal 
offence. Yet look around you at home, from the cot- 
tage to the throne, and count how many mistresses are 
kept in unblushing notoriety, without any loss of caste. 
Such cases are almost unknown here, and down even 
to the lowest walks of life it is almost invariably fiital 
to a man's position and prospects to keep a mistress 
openly, whether white or black. What Miss Martin- 
eau relates of a young man's purchasing a colored con- 
cubine from a lady and avowing his designs, is too ab- 
surd even for contradiction. No person would dare to 
allude to such a subject in such a manner to any decent 



138 

female in this country. If he did, he would be lynched 
— doubtless with your approbation. 

After all, however, the number of the mixed breed 
in proportion to that of the black is infinitely small, 
and out of the towns next to nothing. And when it is 
considered that the African race has been among us 
for two hundred years, and that those of the mixed 
breed continually intermarry — often rearing large fam- 
ilies — it is a decided proof of our continence that so 
few comparatively are to be found. Our misfortunes 
are twofold. From the prolific propagation of these 
mongrels among themselves, we are liable to be charg- 
ed by tourists with delinquencies whei'e none have 
been committed ; while, where one has been, it cannot 
be concealed. Color marks indelibly the offence, and 
reveals it to every eye. Conceive that, even in your 
virtuous and polished country, if every bastard through 
all the circles of your social system was thus branded 
by nature and known to all, what shocking develop- 
ments micrlit there not be ! How little indiirnation 
might your saints have to spare for the licentiousness 
of the slave region. But I have done with this disgust- 
ing topic. And I think I may justly conclude, after 
all the scandalous charges which tea-table gossip and 
long-gowned hypocrisy have brought against the slave- 
holders, that a peoj)le w^hose men are provei'bially 
brave, intellectual and hospitable, and whose women 
are unaffectedly chaste, devoted to domestic life and 
happy in it, can neither be degraded nor demoralized, 
whatever their institutions may be. My decided opin- 
ion is, that our system of Slavery contributes largely 
to the development and culture of these high and noble 
qualities. 



139 

In an economical point of view — which I will not 
omit — Slavery presents some difficulties. As a gener- 
al rule, I asrree, it must be admitted that free labor is 
cheaper than Slave labor. It is a fidlacy to suppose 
that ours is unpaidlahor. The slave himself must be 
paid for, and thus his labor is all purchased at once, 
and for no trifling sum. His price was in the first 
place paid mostly to your countrymen^ and assisted in 
building up some of those colossal English fortunes, 
since illustrated by patents of nobility and splendid 
piles of architecture —stained and cemented, if you like 
the expression, with the blood of kidnapped innocents, 
but loaded with no heavier curses than Abolition and 
its begotten fanaticisms have brought upon your land 
— some of them fulfilled, some yet to be. But, besides 
the first cost of the slave, he must be fed and clothed — 
well fed and well clothed — if not for humanity's sake, 
that he may do good work, retain health and life, and 
rear a femily to supply his place. When old or sick 
he a clear expense, and so is the helpless portion of 
his family. No poor law provides for him when un- 
able to work, or brings up his children for our service 
when we need them. These are all heavy charges on 
slave labor. Hence, in all countries where the dense- 
ness of the population has reduced it to a matter of jier- 
fect certainty that labor can be obtained whenever 
wanted, and the laborer be forced by sheer necessity 
to hire for the smallest pittance that will keep soul and 
body together and rags upon his back while in actual 
employment — dependent at all other times on alms or 
poor rates — in all such countries it is found cheaper to 
pay this pittance than to clothe, feed, nurse, support 
through childhood and pension in old age a race of 



140 

slaves. Indeed, the advantage is so gi-eat as speedily 
to compensate for the loss of the value of the slave. 
And I have no hesitation in saying that, if I conld cul- 
tivate my lands on these terms, I would without a word 
resign my slaves, provided they could be properly dis- 
posed of But the question is, wdiether free or slave 
labor is cheapest to ns in this country at this time, sit- 
uated as we are. And it is decided at once by the fact 
that we cannot avail ourselves of any other than slave 
labor. We neither have nor can we procure other la- 
bor to any extent, or on anything like the terms men- 
tioned. We must therefore content ourselves with our 
dear labor, under the consoling reflection that what is 
lost to us, is gained to humanity ; and that inasmuch as 
our slave costs us more than your free man costs you, 
by so much is he better off. You will promptly say, 
emancipate your slaves, and then you will have free la- 
bor on suitable terms. That might be if there were 
five hundred where there now is one, and the continent, 
from the Atlantic to the Pacific, was as densely popula- 
ted as your island. But until that comes to pass, no 
labor can be procured in America on the terms you 
have it. 

While I thus fi-eely admit that to the individual pro- 
prietor slave labor is dearer than free, I do not mean 
to admit as equally clear that it is dearer to the com- 
munity and to the State. Though it is certain that 
the slave is a far greater consumer than your laborer 
the year round, yet your pauper system is costly and 
wasteful. Supported by your community at large, it 
is not administered by your hired agents with that in- 
terested care and economy — not to speak of humanity — 
which mark the management of ours by each pi-oprie- 



141 

tor for bis own non-effectives ; and it is botli more ex- 
pensive to those who pay, and less beneficial to those 
who receive its bounties. Besides this, Slavery is rapid- 
ly filling up our country with a hardy and healthy race, 
peculiarly adapted to our climate and productions, and 
conferring signal political and social advantages on iis 
as a people to which I have already referred. 

I have yet to reply to the main ground on which 
you and your coadjutors rely for the overthrow of our 
system of slavery. Failing in all your attempts to 
prove that it is sinful in its nature, immoral in its effects, 
a political evil, and profitless to those who maintain it, 
you appeal to the sympathies of mankind, and attempt 
to arouse the world against us by the most shocking 
charges of tyranny and cruelty. You begin by a vehe- 
ment denunciation of " the irresponsible power of one 
man over his fellow men." The question of the re- 
sponsibility of power is a vast one. It is the great po- 
litical question of modern times. Whole nations divide 
off upon it and establish different fundamental systems 
of government. That ''responsibility," which to one 
set of millions seems amply sufficient to check the gov- 
ernment, to the support of which they devote their lives 
and fortunes, appears to another set of millions a mere 
mockery of restraint. And accordingly as the opinions 
of these millions differ, they honor each other with the 
epithets of " Serfs " or "x\narchists." It is ridiculous to 
'•itroduce such an idea as this into the discussion of a 
mere Domestic Institution. But since you have intro- 
duced it, I deny that the power of the slave-holder in 
America is " irresponsible.'' He is responsible to God. 
He is responsiljle to the world — a responsibility which 
Abolitionists do not intend to allow him to evade — and 



142 

in acknowledgment of whicli I write you this letter. 
He is responsible to the community in which he lives, 
and to the laws under which he enjoys his civil rights. 
Those laws do not permit him to kill, to maim, or to 
punish beyond certain limits, or to overtask, or to re- 
fuse to feed and clothe his slave. In short, they forbid 
him to be tyrannical or cruel. If any of these laws 
have grown obsolete, it is because they are so seldom 
violated that they are forgotten. You have disinter- 
red one of them from a compilation by some Judge 
Stroud of Philadelj^hia, to stigmatize its inadequate 
penalties for killing, maiming, &c. Your object ap- 
l^ears to be — you can have no other — to produce the 
impression that it must be often violated on account of 
its insufficiency. You say as much, and that it marks 
our estimate of the slave. You forget to state that 
this law was enacted by Engli-s-hmen^ and only indi- 
cates their oj^inion of the reparation due for these of- 
fences. Ours is proved by the fact, though perhaps 
unknown to Judge Stroud or yourself, that we have 
essentially altered this law ; and the murder of a slave 
has for many years been punishable with death in this 
State. And so it is, I believe, in most or all the slave 
States. You seem well aware, however, that laws have 
been recently parsed in all these States making it pe- 
nal to teach slaves to read. Do you know what occa- 
sioned their passage, and renders their stringent en- 
forcement necessary? I can tell you. It was the Aboli- 
tion agitation. If the slave is not allowed to read his 
Bible, the sin rests upon the Abolitionists ; for they 
stand prepared to furnish him with a Key to it, which 
would make it, not a Book of hope and love and peace, 
but of despair, hatred and blood; which would convert 



143 

the reader, not into a Christian, but a Demon. To pre- 
serve liim from such a liorrid destiny, it is a sacred 
iuty wliicli we owe to our slaves, not less than to our- 
selves, to interpose the most decisive means. If the 
Catholics deem it wrons; to trust the Bible to the hands 
of ignorance, shall we be excommunicated because we 
will not give it, and with it the corrupt and fatal com- 
mentaries of the Abolitionists, to our slaves ? Allow 
our slaves to read your writings, stimulating them to 
cut our throats ! Can you believe us to be such un- 
speakable fools ? 

I do not know that I can subscribe in full to the 
sentiment so often quoted by the x\bolitionists, and by 
Mr. Dickinson in his letter to me : ^' Homo sum, himiani 
nil a me alienum j)uto,'''' as translated and practically 
illustrated by them. Such a doctrine "SN'ould give wide 
authority to every one for the most dangerous inter- 
meddling with the atfairs of others. It will do in 
poetry — perhaps in some sorts of Philosophy — but the 
attempt to make it a household maxim, and introduce 
it into the daily walks of life, has caused many a 
" Homo " a broken crown ; and probably will continue 
to do it. Still, though a slave-holder, I freely acknowl- 
edge my obligations as a man ; and that I am bound to 
treat humanely the fellow creatures whom God has 
entrusted to my charge. I feel therefore somewhat 
sensitive under the accusation of cruelty, and disposed 
to defend myself and fellow slave-holders against it. 
It is certainly the interest of all, and I am convinced 
that it is also the desire of every one of us, to treat 
our slaves with proper kindness. It is necessary to our 
deriving the greatest amount of profit from them. Of 
this we are all satisfied. And you snatch from us the 



144 

only consolation we Americans could derive from the 
opprobrious imputation of being wholly devoted to 
making money, which your disinterested and gold-de- 
spising countiymen delight to cast upon us, when you 
nevertheless declare that we are ready to sacrifice it 
for the pleasure of being inhuman. You remember 
that Mr. Pitt could never get over the idea that self- 
interest would insure kind treatment to slaves, until you 
told him your woful stories of the Middle Passage. 
Mr. Pitt was right in the first instance, and erred, 
under your tuition, in not perceiving the difference 
between a temporary and permanent ownership of 
them. Slave-holders are no more perfect than other 
men. They have passions. Some of them, as you 
may suppose, do not at all times restrain them. Neither 
,do husbands, parents and friends. And in each of 
these relations as serious suffering as frequently arises 
from uncontrolled passions as ever does in that of 
Master and Slave, and wilh as little chance of indem- 
nity. Yet you would not on that account break them 
up. I have no hesitation in saying that our slave- 
holdei's are as kind masters, as men usually are kind 
husbands, parents and friends — as a general rule, 
kinder. A bad master — he who overworks his slaves, 
provides ill for them, or treats them with undue sever- 
ity — loses the esteem and respect of his fellow citizens 
to as great an extent as he would for the violation of 
any of his social and most of his moral obliofations. 
Vv hat the most perfect plan of management would be 
is a problem hard to solve. From the commencement 
of Slavery in this country, this subject has occupied 
the minds of all slave-holders, as much as the improve- 
ment of the general condition of mankind has those 



145 

of the most ardent philanthropists ; and the greatest 
progressive amelioration of the system has been effected. 
You yourself acknowledge that in the early part of 
your career you were exceedingly anxious for the 
immediate abolition of the Slave Trade, lest those 
engaged in it should so mitigate its evils as to destroy 
the force of your arguments and facts. The improve- 
ment you then dreaded has gone on steadily here, and 
would doubtless have taken place in the Slave Trade 
but for the measures adopted to suppress it. 

Of late years we have been not only annoyed, but 
greatly embarrassed in this matter, by the Abolition- 
ists. We have been compelled to curtail some 
privileges ; we have been debarred from granting new 
ones. In the face of discussions which aim at loosen- 
ing all ties between master and slave, we have in some 
measure to abandon our efforts to attach them to us 
and control them through their affections and pride. 
We have to rely more and more on the power of fear. 
We must in all our intercourse with them assert and 
maintain strict mastery, and impress it on them that 
they are Slaves. This is painful to us, and certainly 
no present advantage to them. But it is the direct 
consequence of the Abolition agitation. We are deter- 
mined to continue Masters, and to do so we have to draw 
the rein tighter and tighter day by day to be assured 
that we hold them in complete check. How far this 
process will go on depends wholly and solely on the 
Abolitionists. When they desist we can relax. We 
may not before. I do not mean by all this to say that 
we are in a state of actual alarm and fear of our slaves ; 
but under existing* circumstances we should be ineffablv 
stupid not to increase our vigilance and strengthen our 



146 

Lands. You see some of the fruits of your labors. I 
speak freely and candidly — not as a colonist who, 
thouf»-h a slave-holder has a master; but as a free white 
man, holding, under God, and resolved to hold, my 
fate in my own hands; and I assure j^ou that my senti- 
ments and feelings and determinations are those of 
every slave-holder in this country. 

The research and ingenuity of the Abolitionists, 
aided l)y the invention of runaway slaves — in which 
faculty, so far as improvising falsehood goes, the 
African race is without a rival — have succeeded in 
shocking the world with a small number of pretended 
instances of our barbarity. The only wonder is that, 
considering the extent of our countr}^, the variety of 
our population, its fluctuating character, and the publi- 
city of all our transactions, the number of cases col- 
lected is so small. It speaks well for us. Yet of these 
many are false, all highly colored, some occurring half 
a century, most of them many years, ago ; and no 
doubt a large proportion of them perpetrated by 
foreigners. With a few rare exceptions the emigrant 
Scotch and English are the worst masters among us, 
and next to them our Northern fellow-citizens. Slave- 
holders born and bred here are always more liumane 
to slaves, and those who have grown up to a large 
inheritance of them, the most so of any — showing 
clearly that the effect of the system is to foster kindly 
feelings. I do not mean so much to impute innate in- 
humanity to foreigners, as to show that they come here 
with false notions of the treatment usual and necessary 
for slaves, and that newly acquired power here, as 
everywhere else, is apt to be abused. I cannot enter 
into a detailed examination of the cases stated by the 



14T 

Abolitionists. It would be disgusting and of little 
avail. I know nothing of tbem. I have seen nothing 
like tbem, though born and bred here, and have rarely 
beard of anything at all to be compared with them. 
Permit me to say that I think most of your fjicts must 
have been drawn from the West Indies, where un- 
doubtedly slaves were treated much more harshly than 
with us. This was owing to a variety of causes, which 
might, if necessary, be stated. One was that they had 
at first to deal more extensively with barbarians fresh 
from the wilds of Africa ; another, and a leadins: one, 
the absenteeism of Proprietors. Agents are always 
more unfeeling than owners, whether placed over 
West Indian or American slaves, or Irish tenantry. 
We feel this evil greatly even here. You describe 
the use of thumh screws as one mode of punishment 
among us. I doubt if a thumb screw can be found in 
America. I never saw or heard of one in this country. 
Stocks are rarely used by private individuals, and con- 
finement still more seldom ; though both are common 
punishments for whites, all the world over. I think 
they should be more frequently resorted to with slaves, 
as substitutes for flogging, which I consider the most 
injurious and least efficacious mode of punishing them 
for serious offences. It is not desfradins^ and, unless 
excessive, occasions little pain. You may be a little 
astonished, after all the flourishes that have been made 
about " cart whips," &c., when I say flogging is not the 
most degrading punishment in the world. It may be 
so to a white man in most countries, but how is it to 
the white boy? That necessary coadjutor of the 
scliool- master the " birch " is never thouirht to have 
rendered infamous the unfortunate victim of pedagogue 



148 

ire ; nor did Solomon in his wisdom dream that he was 
counselling parents to debase their offspring, when he 
exhorted them not spoil the child by sparing the rod. 
Pardon me foi' recurring to the now exploded ethics of 
the Bible. Custom, which, you will perhaps agree, 
makes most things in this world good or evil, has re- 
moved all infamy from the punishment of the lash to 
the slave. Your blood boils at the recital of stripes 
inflicted on a man ; and 3^ou think you should be fren- 
zied to see your own child flogged. Yet see how com- 
pletely this is ideal, arising from the fashions of society. 
You doubtless submitted to the rod yourself, in other 
years, when the smart was perhaps as severe as it -would 
be now ; and you have never been guilty of the folly 
of revenging yourself on the preceptor who in the plen- 
itude of his " irresponsible power " thought proper to 
chastise your son. So it is with the negro, and the 
negro father. 

As to chains and irons, they are rarely used ; never, 
I believe, except in cases of running away. You will 
admit that if we pretend to own slaves they must not 
be permitted to abscond whenever they see fit ; and 
that if nothing else w^ill prevent it these means must 
be resorted to. See the inhumanity necessarily arising 
from slavery, you will exclaim. Are such restraints 
imposed on no other class of people given no more of- 
fence ? Look to your army and navy. If your seamen, 
impressed from their peaceful occupations, and your 
soldiei-s, recruited at the gin shops — both of them as 
much kidnapped as the most unsuspecting victim of the 
Slave Trade, and doomed to a far more wretched fate 
— if these men manifest a propensity to desert, the 
heaviest manacles are their mildest punishment: it is 



149 

most commonly deatb, after summary trial. But armies 
and navies you say are indispensable, and must be kept 
up at every saci'ifice. I answer that they are no more 
indispensable, than slavery is tons — and to yow, for 
you have enough of it in your country, though the form 
and name differ from ours. 

Depend upon it that many things, and in regard to 
our slaves most things, which appear revolting at a 
distance, and to slight reflection, would on a nearer 
view and impartial comparison with the customs and 
conduct of the rest of mankind strike you in a very 
different light. Kemember that on our estates we dis- 
pense with the whole machinery of public police and 
public Courts of Justice. Thus we try, decide and ex- 
ecute the sentences, in thousands of cases, which in 
other countries would go into the Courts. Hence, most 
of the acts of our alleged cruelty, which have any foun- 
dation in truth. Whether our P-atriarchal mode of 
administering justice is less humane than the Assizes 
can only be determined by careful inquiry and com- 
parison. But this is never done by the Abolitionists. 
All our punishments are the outrages of " irresponsible 
power." If a man steals a pig in England he is trans- 
ported — torn from wife, children, parents and sent to 
the Antipodes, infamous and an outcast forever, though 
probably he took from the superabundance of his 
neighbor to save the lives of his famishing little ones. 
If one of our well-fed negroes, merely for the sake of 
fresh meat, steals a pig, he gets perhaps forty stripes. 
If one of your Cottagers breaks into another's house, 
he is hung for burglary. If a slave does the same here, 
a few lashes, or it may be a few hours in the stocks, 
settles the matter. Are our Courts or yours the most hu- 
10 



150 

mane ? If slavery were not in question you would doubt- 
less say ours is mistaken lenity. Perhaps it often is ; 
and slaves too lightly dealt with sometimes grow daring. 
Occasionally, tliough rarely, and almost always in con- 
sequence of excessive indulgence, an individual rebels. 
This is the highest crime he can commit. It is treason. 
It strikes at the root of our whole system. His life is 
justly forfeited, though it is never intentionally taken, 
unless after trial in our public Courts. Sometimes, 
however, in capturing, or in self defence, he is unfortu- 
nately killed. A legal investigation always follows. 
But, terminate as it may, the Abolitionists raise a hue 
and cry, and another " shocking case " is held up to the 
indignation of the world by tender-hearted male and 
female Philanthropists, who would have thought all 
right had the master's throat been cut, and would have 
triumphed in it. 

I cannot go into a detailed comparison between the 
penalties inflicted on a slave in our Patriarchal Courts, 
and those of the Courts of Sessions to which freemen 
are sentenced in all civilized nations ; but I know well 
that if there is any fault in our criminal code, it is that 
of excessive mildness. 

Perhaps a few general facts will best illustrate the 
treatment this race receives at our hands. It is ac- 
knowledged that it increases at least as rapidly as the 
white, I believe it is an established law, that popu- 
lation thrives in proportion to its comforts. But when 
it is considered that these people are not recruited by 
immigration from abroad as the whites are, and that 
they are usually settled on our richest and least healthy 
lands, the fact of their equal comparative increase and 
greater longevity, outweighs a thousand Abolition false- 



*•, 



151 

hoods, in favor of the leniency and providence of our 
management of them. It is also admitted that there 
are incomparably fewer cases of insanity and suicide 
among them than among the whites. The fact is, that 
among the slaves of the African race these things are 
almost wholly unknown. However frequent suicide 
may have been among those brought from Africa, I can 
say that in my time I cannot remember to have known 
or heard of a single instance of deliberate self-destruc- 
tion, and but one of suicide at all. As to insanity, I 
have seen but one permanent case of it, and that twenty 
years ago. It cannot be doubted that among three 
millions of people there must be some insane and some 
suicides ; but I will venture to say that more cases of 
both occur annually among every hundred thousand 
of the population of Great Britain than among all our 
slaves. Can it be possible, then, that they exist in that 
state of abject misery, goaded by constant injuries, out- 
raged in their affections and worn down with hard- 
ships, which the Abolitionists depict, and so many ig- 
norant and thoughtless persons religiously believe ? 

With regard to the separation of husbands and 
wives, parents and children, nothing can be more un- 
true than the inferences drawn from what is so con- 
stantly harped on by Abolitionists. Some painful in- 
stances perhaps may occur. Very few that can be pre- 
vented. It is and it always has been an object of prime 
consideration with our slaveholders to keep families 
together. Negroes are themselves both perverse and 
comparatively indifferent about this matter. It is a 
singular trait, that they almost invariably prefer form- 
ing connections with slaves belonging to other masters, 
and at some distance. It is therefore impossible to 



152 

prevent separations sometimes, by the removal of one 
owner. Lis deatb, or failure, and dispersion of his prop- 
erty. In all such cases, however, every reasonable 
effort is made to keep the parties together, if they de- 
sire it. And the negroes forming these connections, 
knowing the chances of their premature dissolution, 
rarely complain more than we all do of the inevitable 
strokes of fate. Sometimes it happens that a negro 
prefers to give up his family rather than separate from 
his master. I have known such instances. As to wil- 
fully selling oif a husband or wife or child, I believe it 
is rarely, very rarely done, except when some offence 
has been committed demanding " transportation." At 
sales of estates, and even at Sheriffs' sales, they are 
always, if possible, sold in families. On the whole, not- 
withstanding the migratory character of our population, 
I believe there are more families among our slaves who 
have lived and died together without losing a single 
member from their circle, except by the process of 
nature, and in the enjoyment of constant, uninterrupted 
communion, than have flourished in the same space of 
time and among the same number of civilized people 
in modern times. And to sum up all, if pleasure is 
correctly defined to be in the absence of pain — which, 
so far as the great body of mankind is concerned, is 
undoubtedly its true definition — I believe our slaves 
are the happiest three millions of human beings on 
whom the sun shines. Into their Eden is coming Satan 
in the guise of an Abolitionist. 

As regards their religious condition, it is well 
known that a majority of the communicants of the 
Methodist and Baptist churches of the South are col- 
ored. Almost everywhere they have precisely the same 



153 



opportunities of attending worship that the whites 
have, and besides, special occasions for themselves 
exclusively, which they prefer. In many places not 
so accessible to clergymen in ordinary, missionaries 
are sent, and mainly supported by their masters, for 
the particular benefit of the slaves. There are none, I 
imagine, who may not, if they like, hear the Gospel 
preached at least once a month — most of them twice a 
month and very many every week. In our thinly set- 
tled countr}?^ the whites fare no better. But in addition 
to this, on ^plantations of any size the slaves who have 
joined the church are formed into a class, at the head 
of which is placed one of their number, acting as dea- 
con or leader, who is also sometimes a licensed preacher. 
This class assembles for I'eligious exercises weekly, 
semi-weekly, or oftener, if the members choose. In 
some parts, also, Sunday schools for blacks are estab- 
lished, and Bible classes are orally instructed by dis- 
creet and j)ious persons. Now where will you find a 
laboring j^opulation possessed of greater religious ad- 
vantages than these ? Not in London, I am sure, 
where it is known that your churches, chapels, and 
religious meeting houses of all sorts, cannot contain 
one-half of the inhabitants. 

I have admitted, without hesitation, what it would 
be untrue and profitless to deny, that slaveholders 
are responsible to the world for the humane treat- 
ment of the fellow-beings whom God has placed in 
their hands. I think it would be only fair for you to 
admit, what is equally undeniable, that every man in 
independent circumstances, all the world over, and 
every Government, is to the same extent responsible to 
the whole human family for the condition of the poor 



154 

aud laboring classes in their own country and around 
them, wherever they may be placed, to whom God 
has denied the advantages he has given themselves. If 
80, it would naturally seem the duty of true humanity 
and rational philanthropy to devote their time and 
labor, their thoughts, writings, and charity, first to the 
objects placed as it were under their own immediate 
charge. And it must be regarded as a clear evasion 
and sinful neglect of this cardinal duty, to pass from 
those whose destitute situation they can plainly see, 
minutely examine, and efficiently relieve, to inquire 
after the condition of others in no way entrusted to 
their care, to exaggerate evils of which they cannot be 
cognizant, to expend all their sympathies and exhaust 
all their energies on these remote objects of their un- 
natural, not to say dangerous benevolence, and, finally, 
to calumniate, denounce, and endeavor to excite the 
indignation of the world against their unoffending fel- 
low-creatures for not hastening under their dictation 
to redress wrongs which are stoutly and truthfully 
denied, while they themselves go but little farther in 
alleviating those chargeable on them than openly and 
unblushingly to acknowledge them. There may be 
indeed a sort of merit in doing so much as to make 
such an acknowledgment, but it must be very modest 
if it expects appreciation. 

Now I affirm that in Great Britain the poor and 
laboring classes of your own race and color, not only 
your fellow-beings, but your fellow-citizens^ are more 
miserable and degraded, morally and physically, than 
our slaves ; to be elevated to the actual condition of 
whom, would be to these your fellow-citizens a most 
glorious act of emancipatio7i. And I also affirm that 



155 

the poor and laboring classes of our older Free States 
would not be in a mucli more enviable condition but 
for our slavery. One of their own Senators has de- 
clared in the United States Senate " that the repeal of 
the Tariff would reduce New England to a howling 
wilderness." And the American Tariff is neither more 
nor less than a system by which the slave States are 
plundered to benefit those States which do not tolerate 
slavery. 

To prove what I say of Great Britain to be true, I 
make the following extracts from the Reports of Com- 
missioners appointed by Parliament, and published by 
order of the House of Commons. I can make but few 
and short ones. But similar quotations might be made 
to any extent, and I defy you to deny that these speci- 
mens exhibit the real condition of your operatives in 
every branch of your industry. There is of course a 
variety in their sufferings. But the same incredible 
amount of toil, frightful destitution, and utter want of 
morals, characterize the lot of every class of them. 

Collieries. " I wish to call the attention of the Board 
to the pits about Brampton. The seams are so thin 
that several of them have only two feet head-way to all 
the working. They are worked altogether by boys 
from 8 to 12 years of age, on all-fours, with a dog belt 
and chain ; the passages being neither ironed nor 
wooded, and often an inch or two thick with mud. 
In Mr. Barnes' pit these poor boys have to drag the 
barrows with one cwt. of coal or slack 60 times a day 
60 yards, and the empty barrows back, without once 
straightening their backs, unless they choose to stand 
under the shaft and run the risk of havino;- their heads 
broken by a falling coal." — Rep. on Mines, 1842,^. 71. 



156 

" In Shropshire the seams are no more than 18 or 20 
inches." — Ihid^ p. 67- "At the Booth pit," says Mr. Scri- 
ven, " I walked, rode and crept 1,800 yards to one of 
the nearest faces." — Ihid. " ' Choke-damp,' ' Fire-damp,' 
* Wild-fire,' 'Sulphur' and 'Water' at all times men- 
ace instant death to the laborers in these mines." 
'"^JRohert JSForth^ aged sixteen : Went into the pit at T 
years of age, to fill up skips. I drew about 12 months. 
When I drew by the girdle and chain my skin was bro- 
ken, and the blood ran down. I durst not say any- 
thing. If we said anything, the butty, and the reeve, 
who works under him, would take a stick and beat 
us." — Ihid. "The usual punishment for theft is to 
place the culprit's head between the legs of one of the 
biggest boys, and each boy in the pit — sometimes there 
are 20 — inflicts 12 lashes on the back and rump with 
a cat." — Ihid. " Instances occur in which children are 
taken into these mines to work as early as 4 years of 
age, sometimes at 5, not uufrequently at 6 and 'T, while 
from 8 to 9 is the ordinary age at which these employ- 
ments commence." — Ihid. The wages paid at these 
mines is from $2,50 to $7,50 per month for laborers, 
according to age and ability, and out of this they must 
support themselves. They work 12 hours a dav. — 
Ihid. 

In Calico printing. "It is by no means uncommon 
in all the districts for children 5 or 6 years old to be 
kept at work 14 to 16 hours consecutively." — Iiep>. on 
Children, 1842, p. 59. 

I could furnish extracts similar to these in regard to 
every branch of your Manufactures, but I will not mul- 
tiply them. Everybody knows that your operatives 
habitually labor from 12 to 16 hours, men, women and 



157 

cliildren, and the men occasionally 20 liours per day. 
In lace making, says tlie last quoted Keport, cliildren 
sometimes commence work at 2 years of age. 

Destitution. — It is stated by your Commissioners 
that 40,000 persons in Liverpool, and 15,000 in Man- 
chester, live in cellars ; while 22,000 in England pass 
the night in barns, tents, or the open air. " There have 
been found such occurrences as .7, 8 and 10 persons in 
one cottage, I cannot say for one day, but for whole 
days, without a morsel of food. They have remained 
on their beds of straw for two successive days, under 
the impression that in a recumbent posture the pangs 
of hunger were less felt." — Lord BrongliarrHs speech^ 
Xlth July^ 1842. A volume of frightful scenes might 
be quoted to corroborate the inferences to be necessa- 
rily drawn from the facts here stated. I will not add 
more, but pass on to the important inquiry as to 

Morals and Education. — " EUzahetli Barrett., aged 
14:1 always work without stockings, shoes or trow- 
sers. I wear nothing but a shift. I have to go up to 
the headings with the men. They are all naked there. 
I am got used to that." — Report on Mines. " As to illicit 
sexual intercourse it seems to prevail universally and 
from an early period of life." "The evidence might 
have been doubled which attests the early commence- 
ment of sexual and promiscuous intercourse among 
boys and girls." " A lower condition of morals, in the 
fullest sense of the term, could not I think be 
found. I do not mean by this that there are many 
more prominent vices among them, but that moral 
feelings and sentiments do not exist. They have 
no morals.^'' "Their appearance, manners and moral 
atures — so far as the word moral can be applied to 



158 

them — are in accordance with their half-civilized con- 
dition" — Rep. on Children. " More than half a dozen 
instances occurred in Manchester, where a man, his 
wife, and his wife's grown up sister, habitually occupied 
the same bed." — Rep. on Sanitary Condition. Robert 
CrucJiilow^ aged 16 : "I don't know anything of Moses 
— never heard of France. T don't know what America 
is. Never heard of Scotland or Ireland. Can't tell 
how many weeks there are in a year. There are 12 
pence in a shilling, and 20 shillings in a pound. There 
are eight pints in a gallon of ale." — Re2y. on Mines. 
Ann Eggly^ aged 18 : "I walk about and get fresh air 
on Sundays. I never go to Church or Chapel. I 
never heard of Christ at all." — Ihid. Others: "The 
Lord sent Adam and Eve on earth to save sinners." 
" I don't know who made the world, I never heard 
about God." " I don't know Jesus Christ — I never 
saw him — but I have seen Foster who prays about 
him." Employer : " You have expressed surprise at 
Thomas Mitchel's not hearing of God. I judge there 
are few colliers hereabout that have." — Ibid. I will 
quote no more. It is shocking beyond endurance to 
turn over your Records in which the condition of your 
laboring classes is but too faithfully depicted. Could 
our slaves but see it, they would join us in lynching 
Abolitionists, which, by the by, they would not now 
be loth to do. We never think of im]30sing on them 
such labor, either in amount or kind. We never put 
them to any worh under ten, more generally at twelve 
years of age, and then the very lightest. Destitution 
is absolutely unknown — never did a slave starve in 
America ; while in moral sentiments and feelings, in 
religious information, and even in general intelligence, 



159 

they are infinitely the superiors of your operatives. 
When you look around you how dare you talk to us 
before the world of slavery? For tlie condition of 
your wretched laborers, you, and every Briton who is 
not one of them, are responsible before God and Man. 
If you are really humane, philanthropic and charitable, 
here are objects for you. Relieve them. Emancipate 
them. Raise them from the condition of brutes, to 
the level of human beings — of American slaves, at 
least. Do not for an instant suppose that the name of 
being freemen is the slightest comfort to them, 
situated as they are,. or that the bombastic boast that 
" whoever touches British soil stands redeemed, regene- 
rated and disenthralled," can meet with anything but 
the ridicule and contempt of mankind, while that soil 
swarms, both on and under its surface, with the most 
abject and degraded wretches that ever bowed beneath 
the oppressor's yoke. 

I have said that slavery is an established and in- 
evitable condition to liuman society. I do not speak 
of the name^ but the fact. The Marquis of Normanby 
has lately declared your operatives to be "m effect 
davesT Can it be denied? Probably, for such Phi- 
lanthropists as your Abolitionists care nothing for facts. 
They deal in terms and fictions. It is the tvord "sla- 
ery " whicb shocks their tender sensibilities ; and their 
imaginations associate it with "hydras and chimeras 
dire." The thing itself, in its most hideous reality, 
passes daily under their view unheeded — a familiar face, 
touching no chord of shame, sympathy or indignation. 
Yet so brutalizing is your iron bondage that the 
English operative is a byword through the world. 
When favoring fortune enables him to escape his prison- 



160 

house, botli in Europe and America lie is shunned. 
With all the skill which 14 hours of daily labor from 
the tenderest age has ground into him, his discontent, 
which habit has made second nature, and his depraved 
propensities, running riot when freed from his wonted 
fetters, prevent his employment whenever it is not a 
matter of necessity. If we derived no other benefit 
from African slavery in the Southern States than that 
it deterred jowv freedmen from coming hither, I should 
regard it as an inestimable blessing. 

And how unaccountable is that philanthropy 
which closes its eyes upon such a state of things as 
you have at home, and turns its blurred vision to 
our affiiirs beyond the Atlantic, meddling with matters 
which no way concern them — presiding, as you have 
lately done, at meetings to denounce the " iniquity of 
our laws" and "the atrocity of our practices," and to 
sympathize with infamous wretches imprisoned here 
for violating decrees promulgated both by God and 
man ! Is this doing the work of " your Father which 
is in Heaven," or is it seeking only " that you may have 
glory of man ? " Do you remember the denunciation 
of our Saviour, " Woe unto you, Scribes and Phari- 
sees ; Hypocrites ! for ye make clean the outside of 
the cup and platter, but within they are full of extor- 
tion and excess ? " 

But after all, supposing that everything you say 
of slavery be true, and its abolition a matter of the 
last necessity, how do you expect to effect emancipa- 
tion, and what do you calculate will be the result of 
its accomplishment ? As to the means to be used, the 
Abolitionists, I believe, affect to differ, a large propor- 
tion of them pretending that their sole purpose is to 



161 

upply " moral suasion" to the slaveholders them- 
selves. As a matter of curiosity, I should like to 
know what their idea of this "moral suasion" is. 
Their discourses — yours is no exception — are all tirades, 
the exordium, argument, and peroration turning on the 
epithets " tyrants " " thieves," " murderers," addressed 
to us. They revile us as " atrocious monsters," " viola- 
tors of the laws of nature, God and man," our homes 
the abode of every iniquity, our land a "brothel." 
We retort, that they are " incendiaries " and " assassins." 
Delightful argument ! Sweet, potent " moral suasion ! " 
What slave has it freed — what proselyte can it ever 
make ? But if your course was wholly different — if 
you distilled nectar from your lips, and discoursed 
sweetest music, could you reasonably indulge the hope 
of accomplishing your object by such means? Nay, 
supposing that we were all convinced, and thought of 
slavery precisely as you do, at what era of " moral 
suasion " do you imagine you could prevail on us to 
give up a thousand millions of dollars in the value of 
our slaves, and a thousand millions of dollars more in 
the depreciation of our lands, in consequence of the 
want of laborers to cultivate them ? Consider : were 
ever any people, civilized or savage, persuaded by any 
argument, human or divine, to surrender voluntarily 
two thousand millions of dollars ? Would you think 
of asking five millions of Englishmen to contribute 
either at once or gradually four hundred and fifty 
millions of pounds sterling to the cause of Philanthropy, 
even if the purpose to be accomplished was not of 
doubtful goodness ? If you are prepared to undertake 
such a scheme, try it at home. Collect your fund — 
return us the money for our slaves, and do with them 



162 

as you like. Be all the glory yours, fairly and hon- 
estly won. But you see the absurdity of such an idea. 
Away, then, with your pretended " moral suasion." 
You know it is mere nonsense. The Abolitionists 
have no faith in it themselves. Those who expect to 
accomplish anything count on means altogether differ- 
ent. They aim first to alarm us : that failing, to com- 
pel us by force to emancipate our slaves, at our own 
risk and cost. To these purposes they obviously direct 
all their energies. Our Northern Liberty men have 
endeavored to disseminate their destructive doctrines 
among our slaves, and excite them to insurrection. 
But we have put an end to that, and stricken terror 
into them. They dare not show their faces here. 
Then they declared they would dissolve the Union. 
Let them do it. The North would repent it far more 
than the South. We are not alarmed at the idea. 
We are well content to give up the Union sooner than 
sacrifice two thousand millions of dollars, and with 
them all the rights we prize. You may take it for 
granted that it is impossible to persuade or alarm us 
into emancipation, or to making the first step towards 
it. Nothing, then, is left to try, but sheer force. If 
the Abolitionists are prepared to expend their own 
treasure and shed their own blood as freely as they 
ask us to do ours, let them come. We do not court 
the conflict; but we will not and we cannot shrink 
from it. If they are not ready to go so far ; if, as I 
expect, their philanthropy recoils from it ; if they are 
looking only for cheap glory, let them turn their 
thoughts elsewhere and leave us in peace. Be the 
sin, the danger and the evils of slavery all our own. 
We compel, we ask none to share them with us. 



165 

I am well aware that a notable scheme has been set 
on foot to achieve abolition by making what is by 
courtesy called " free " labor so much cheaper than 
slave labor as to force the abandonment of the latter. 
Though we are beginning to inaiinfacture with slaves^ 
I do not think you will attempt to pinch your opera- 
tives closer in Great Britain. You cannot curtail the 
rags with which they vainly attempt to cover their na- 
kedness, nor reduce the porridge which barely, and not 
always, keeps those who have employment from per- 
ishing of famine. When you can do this, we will con- 
sider whether our slaves may not dispense with a pound 
or two of bacon per week, or a few garments annually. 
Your aim, however, is to cheapen labor in the tropics. 
The idea of doing this by exporting your " bold yeo- 
manry " is, I presume, given up. Cromwell tried it when 
he sold the captured followers of Charles into West In- 
dian slavery^ where they speedily found graves. JSTor 
have your recent experiments on British and even 
Dutch constitutions succeeded better. Have you still 
faith in carrying thither your Coolies from Hindostan ? 
Doubtless that once wild robber race, whose hiofhest 
eulogium was that they did not murder merely for the 
love of blood, have been tamed down, and are perhaps 
" keen for immigration," for since your civilization has 
reached it, plunder has grown scarce in Guzerat. But 
what is the result of the experiment thus far ? Have 
the Coolies, ceasing to handle arms, learned to handle 
spades, and proved hardy and profitable laborers ? On 
the contrary, broken in spirit and stricken with disease 
at home, the wretched victims whom you have hither- 
to kidnapped for a bounty, confined in depots, put un- 
der hatches and carried across the ocean — forced into 



164 

" voluntary immigration," have done little but lie down 
and die on tlie pseudo soil of freedom. At tlie end of 
five years, two-thirds, in some colonies a larger propor- 
tion, are no more ! Humane and pious contrivance ! 
To alleviate the fancied sufferings of the accursed pos- 
terity of Ham, you sacrifice by a cruel death two-thirds 
of the children of the blessed Shem — and demand the 
applause of Christians — the blessing of Heaven ! If this 
" experiment " is to go on, in God's name try your hand 
upon the Thugs. That other species of " Immigration " 
to which 3^ou are resorting I will consider presently. 

But what do you calculate will be the result of 
emancipation, by whatever means accomplished ? You 
will probably point me, byway of answer, to the West 
Indies — doubtless to Antigua, the great boast of aboli- 
tion. Admitting that it has succeeded there — which I 
will do for the sake of the argument — do you know 
the reason of it ? The true and only causes of what- 
ever success has attended it in Antigua are, that the 
population was before crowded, and all or nearly all 
the arable land in cultivation. The emancipated ne- 
groes could not, many of them, get away if they desir- 
ed ; and knew not where to go, in case they did. 
They had practically no alternative but to remain on 
the spot ; and remaining, they must work on the terms 
of the Proprietors, or perish — the strong arm of the 
mother country forbidding all hope of seizing the 
land for themselves. The Proprietors, well knowing 
that they could thus command labor for the merest ne- 
cessities of life, which was much cheaper than main- 
taining the non-effective as well as effective slaves 
in a style which decency and interest, if not humanity, 
required, willingly accepted half their value, and at 



J 65 

once realized far more than the interest on the other 
half in the diminntion of their expenses, and the redu- 
ced, comforts of the frce7nen. One of your most illus- 
trious Judges, Avho was also a profound and philoso- 
phical Historian, has said " that Villeinage was not ab- 
olished, but went into decay in England." This was 
the process. This has been the process wherever (the 
name of) Villeinage or Slavery has been successfully 
abandoned. Slavery in fact " went into decay" in An- 
tigua. I have admitted that under similiar circumstan- 
ces it miglit profitably cease here — that is, profitably 
to the individual Proprietors. Give me half the value 
of my Slaves, and compel them to remain and labor on 
my plantation at 10 to 11 cents a day, as they do in 
Antigua, supj^orting themselves and families, and you 
shall have tliem to-morrow, and, if you like, dub them 
"free." Not to stickle, I would surrender them with- 
out price. No — I recall my words: My humanity re- 
volts at the idea. I am attached to my Slaves, and 
would not have art or part in reducing them to such a 
condition. I deny, however, that Antigua, as a com- 
munity, is or ever will be as prosperous, under present 
circumstances, as she was before abolition, though fully 
ripe for it. The fact is well known. The reason is 
that the African, if not a distinct, is an inferior Race, 
and never will effect, as it never has effected, as mucli 
in any other condition as in that of Slavery. 

I know of no Slave-lwlder who has visited the West 
Indies since Slavery was abolished, and published his 
views of it. All our facts and opinions come through 
the friends of the experiment, or at least those not op- 
posed to it. Taking these, even without allowance, to 
be true as stated, I do not see where the Abolitionists 
11 



16G 

find cause for exultation. The tables of exports, vvhich 
are the best evidences of the condition of a people, 
exhibit a wofal falling off — excused, it is true, by un- 
precedented droughts and hurricanes, to which their 
free labor seems unaccountably more subject than 
slave labor used to be. I will not go into detail. It 
is well known that a large proportion of British Legis- 
lation and expenditure, and that proportion still con- 
stantly increasing, is most anxiously devoted to repair- 
ing the monstrous error of emancipation. You are 
actually galvanizing your expiring Colonies. The 
truth, deduced from all the facts, was thus pithily stated 
by the London Quarterly Review, as Ions: ago as 1840: 
" None of the benefits anticipated by mistaken good in- 
tentions have been realized ; while every evil wished for 
by knaves and foreseen by the wise has been painfully 
verified. The wild rashness of fanaticism has made the 
emancipation of the Slaves equivalent to the loss of one 
half of the West Indies, and yet put back the chance 
of Negro civilization." (^Art. Ld. Dudlef/s Letters.) 
Such are the i^eal fruits of your never-to-be-too-much- 
glorified abolition, and the valuable dividend of your 
twenty millions of pounds sterling invested therein. 

If any further proof was wanted of the utter and 
well known though not yet openly avowed failure of 
West Indian emancipation, it would be furnished by 
the startlinsf fiict, that the Afeican Slave trade has 

BEEN ACTUALLY EEVIVED UNDER THE AUSPICES AND 

PROTECTION OF THE British GOVERNMENT. Under the 
specious guise of " Immigration" they are replenishing 
those Islands with Slaves from the Coast of Africa. 
Your colony of Sierra Leone, founded on that coast to 
prevent the Slave Trade, and peopled, by the bye, iu 



167 

the first instance by negroes stolen from these States 
dur.ng the Revolutionary War, is tlie Depot to whicli 
captives taken from Slavers by your armed vessels are 
transported. I might say returned, since nearly lialf 
the Africans carried across the Atlantic are understood 
to be embarked in this vicinity. The wretched sur- 
vivors, who are there set at liberty, are immediately 
seduced to "immigrate" to the West Indies. The 
business is systematically carried on by Black "Dele- 
gates," sent expressly from the West Indies, where on 
arrival the "immigrants" are -sold into Slavery for 
twenty-one years, under conditions ridiculously trivial 
and wickedly void, since few or none will ever be able 
to derive any advantage from them. The whole prime 
of life thus passed in bondage, it is contemplated, and 
doubtless it will be carried into effect, to turn them 
out in their old age to shift for themselves, and to sup- 
ply their places with fresh and vigorous " Immigrants." 
Was ever a system of Slavery so barbarous devised 
before ? Can you think of comparing it with ours ? 
Even your own Religious Missionaries at Sierra Leone 
denounce it, " as worse than the Slave state in Africa." 
And your Black Delegates, fearful of the influence of 
these Missionaries, as well as on account of the fnade- 
quate supply of Captives, are now preparing to pro- 
cure the able bodied and comparatively industrious 
Kroomeu of the interior, by j^urchaslng from their 
Headmen the privilege of inveigling them to the West 
India market! So ends the magnificent farce — ^per- 
haps I should say tragedy, of West India Abolition ! 
I will not harrow your feelings by asking you to re- 
view the labors of your life and tell me what you and 
your brother Enthusiasts have accomplished for "in- 



168 

jured Africa ; " but, while agreeing with Lord Stowell 
that " Villeinage decayed," and admitting that Slavery 
might do so also, I think I am fully justified by passed 
and passing events in saying as Mr. Grosvenor said of 
the Slave Trade, that its abolition is " impossible." 

You are greatly mistaken, however, if you think 
that the consequences of emancipation here, would be 
similar and no more injurious than those which fol- 
lowed from it in your little sea-girt West India Islands, 
where nearly all were blacks. The system of slavery 
is not in " decay" with us. It flourishes in full and 
growing vigor. Our country is boundless in extent. 
Dotted here and there with villages and fields, it is 
for the most part covered with immense forests and 
swamps of almost unknown size. In such a country, 
with a people so restless as ours, communicating of 
course some of that spirit to their domestics, can you 
conceive that anything short of the power of the 
master over the slave, could confine the African race, 
notoriously idle and improvident, to labor on our 
plantations ? Break this bond, but for a day, and these 
plantations will be solitudes. The negro loves change, 
novelty and sensual excitements of all kinds, when 
awake. " Reason and order," of which Mr. Wilber- 
FORCE said " liberty was the child," do not character- 
ize him. Released from his present obligations his 
first impulse would be to go somewhere. And here 
no natural boundaries would restrain him. At first they 
would all seek the towns, and rapidly accumulate in 
squalid groups upon their outskirts. Driven thence 
by the "armed police" which would immediately 
«pring into existence, they would scatter in all direc- 
tions. Some bodies of them might wander towards 



169 

the " free" States, or to the western wilderness, mak- 
ing their tracks by their depredations and their corpses. 
Many would roam wild in our "Big woods." Many 
more would seek the recesses of our swamps for secure 
covert. Few, very few of them could be prevailed on 
to do a stroke of work, none to labor continuously, 
while a head of cattle, sheep or swine could be found 
in our ranges, or an ear of corn nodded in our aban- 
doned fields. These exhausted, our folds and poultry 
yards, barns and store-houses would become their prey. 
Finally, our scattered dwellings would be plundered, 
perhaps fired and the inmates murdered. How long 
do you suppose that we could bear these things ? How 
long would it be before we should sleep with rifles at 
our bedside, and never move without one in our hands? 
This work once begun, let the story of our British 
ancestors and the aborigines of this country tell the 
sequel. Far more rapid however, would be the catas- 
trophe. "Ere many moons went by," the African 
race would be exterminated, or reduced again to sla- 
very, their ranks recruited, after your example, by 
fresh " Emigrants" from their father land. 

Is timely preparation and gradual emancipation 
suggested to avert these horrible consequences ? I 
thought your experience in the West Indies had at 
least done so much as to explode that idea. If it 
failed there, much more would it fail here, where the 
two races, approximating to equality in numbers, are 
daily and hourly in the closest contact. Give room 
for but a single spark of real jealousy to be kindled 
between them, and the explosion would be instanta- 
neous and universal. It is the most fatal of all fal- 
lacies to suppose that these two races can exist to- 



170 

gether, after any leiigth of time or any i:)roeess of pre- 
paration, on terms at all approaching to equality. Of 
this, both of them ai'e finally and fixedly convinced. 
They differ essentially, in all the leading traits which 
characterize the varieties of the human species, and 
color draws an indelible and insuperable line of separa- 
tion between them. Every scheme founded upon the 
idea that tliey can remain together on the same soil, 
beyond the briefest period, in any other relation than 
precisely that which now subsists between them, is 
not only preposterous, but fi-aught with de3p3st dan- 
ger. If there was no alternate but to try the "experi- 
ment" here, reason and humanity dictate that the 
sufi:erings of "gradualism" should be saved and the 
catastrophe of " immediate abolition" enacted as 
rapidly as possible. Are you impatient for the per- 
formance to commence ? Do you long to gloat over 
the scenes I have susfo-ested, but could not hold the 
pen to portray ? In your long life many such have 
passed under your review. You know^ that tJiey are not 
^'■impoS''^ihley Can they be to your taste? Do you 
believe that in laborinsr to brinsc them about the 
Abolitionists are doinsr the will of God ? No ! God is 
not tliere. It is the work of Satan. The arch-fiend, 
under specious guises, has found his way into their 
souls, and, with false appeals to philanthropy, and foul 
insinuations to ambition, instigates them to rush head- 
long to the accomj)lishment of his diabolical designs. 

We live in a wonderful me. The events of the last 
three quarters of a century appear to have revolution- 
ized the human mind. Enterprise and ambition are 
only limited in their purposes by the horizon of the 
imagination. It is the transcendental era. In philos- 



171 

opliy, religion, government, science, arts, cominei'ce, 
nothing that has been is to he allowed to be. Conser- 
vatism in any form is scoffed at. The slightest taint 
of it is fatal. Where will all this end ? If yon can 
tolerate one ancient maxim let it be that the be4 cri- 
terion of the fntnre is the past. That, if anything, will 
give a clue. And, looking back only through your 
time, what w;^.s the earliest feat of this same Transcen- 
dentalism? 'Ihe rays of the new Moral Drnmmond 
Light were first concentrated to a focus at Paris, to 
illuminate the Universe. In a twinklinsr it consumed 
the political, religious, and social systems of Fi'ance. 
It could not be extinguished there initil literally 
drowned in blood. And then from its ashes rose that 
supernatural man, who for twenty years kept affrighted 
Europe in convulsions. Since that time its scattered 
beams, refracted by broader surfaces, have nevertlieless 
continued to scathe wherever they have fallen. What 
political structure, what religious creed, but has felt 
the galvanic shock, and even now trembles to its foun- 
dations ? Mankind, still horror-stricken by the catas- 
trophe of France, have shrunk from rash experiments 
upon social systems. But they have been practicing 
in the East, around the Mediterranean, and through 
the West India Islands. And growing confident, a 
portion of them seem desperately bent on kindling 
the all-devouring flame in the bosom of our land. Let 
it once again blaze up to heaven and another cycle of 
blood and devastation will dawn upon the world. Eor 
our own sake, and for the sake of those infatuated men 
who are madly driving on the conflagration ; for the 
sake of human nature, we are called on to strain every 
nerve to arrest it. And be assured our efforts will be 



m 

bounded only witli our being. Nor do I doubt that 
five millions of people, brave, intelligent, united, and 
prepared to hazard everything, will, in such a cause, 
with the blessing of God, sustain themselves. At all 
events, come what may, it is ours to meet it. 

"We are all well aware of the light estimation in 
which the Abolitionists, and those who are taught by 
them, profess to hold us. We have seen the attempt of 
a portion of the Free Church of Scotland to reject our 
alms, on the ground that we are " Slave-Drivers," after 
sending missionaries to solicit them. And we have seen 
Mr. O'Connell, the " irresponsible master" of millions of 
ragged serfs, from whom, poverty stricken as they are, 
he contrives to wring a splendid privy purse, throw 
back with contumely the " tribute " of his own coun- 
trymen from this land of " miscreants." These people 
may exhaust their slang and make black-guards of 
themselves, but they cannot defile us. And as for the 
suggestion to exclude slaveholders from your London 
clubs, we scout it. Many of us indeed do go to London, 
and we have seen, your breed of gawky Lords, both 
there and here; but it never entered into our concep- 
tions to look on them as better than ourselves. The 
American slave-holders, collectively or individually, 
ask no favors of any man or race who tread the earth. 
In none of the attributes of men, mental or physical, 
do they acknowledge or fear superiority elsewhere. 
They stand in the broadest light of the knowledge^ 
civilization and improvement of the age — as much 
favored of Heaven as any of the sous of Adam. Ex- 
acting nothing undue, they yield nothing but justice 
and courtesy, even to royal blood. They cannot be 
flattered, duped, nor bullied out of their rights or 



173 

their propriety. They smile with contempt at scur- 
rility and vaporing beyond the seas, and they turn 
their backs upon it where it is "irresponsible;" but 
insolence that ventures to look them in the face, will 
never fail to be chastised. 

I think I may trust you will not regard this letter 
as intrusive. I should never have entertained an idea 
of writing it, had you not opened the correspondence. 
If you think anything in it harsh, review your own — 
which I re2:ret that I lost soon after it was received — 
and you will probably find that you have taken your 
revenge beforehand. If you have not, transfer an 
equitable share of what you deem severe to the ac- 
count of the Abolitionists at large. They have accu- 
mulated ao-ainst the slaveholders a balance of invec- 
tive which, with all our efforts, we shall not be able 
to liquidate much short of the era in which your 
National debt will be paid. At all events, I have no 
desire to offend you personally, and, with the best 
wishes for your continued health, I have the honor 
to be, 

Your obedient servant, 

J. H. HAMMOND. 

Thos. Clarksox, Esq. 



Silver Bluff, S. C, March 24, 1845. 

Sir: — In my letter to you of the 28th of Jannary 
— which I trust you have received ere this — I men- 
tioned that I had lost your circular letter soon after it 
had come to hand. It was, I am glad to say, only 
mislaid, and has within a few days been recovered. 



174 

A second ppnisal of it induces me to resume my pen. 
Unwilling to trust my recollection from a single read- 
ing, I did not in my last communication attempt to 
follow tlie course of your argument, and meet directly 
the }U)ints made and the terms used. I thought it 
better to take a general view of the suT>ject which 
could not fail to traverse your most material cliartres. 
I am well aware however that, for fear of being 
tedious, I omitted manj' interesting to])ics altogether, 
and abstained from a complete discussion of some of 
those introduced. I do not propose now to cdclicmst 
the subject; which it would recpiire volumes to do; 
but without waiting' to learn — which I mav never do 
— your opinion of what I have already said, I sit down 
to supply some of the deficiencies of my letter of 
.January, and, with your circular before me, to reply 
to such parts of it as have not been fully answered. 

It is, I perceive, addressed among others to "such 
as have nev^er visited the Southern States" of this 
confederacy, and professes to enlighten their ignorance 
of the actual "condition of the poor slave in their 
own country." I cannot help thinking you would have 
displayed prudence in confining the circulation of your 
letter altogether to such persons. You might then 
have indulged with impunity in giving, as you have 
done, a pictui-e of slavery drawn from your own ex- 
cited imagination, or from those impure fountains, the 
Martineaus, Marryatts, Trollopes and Dickenses, who 
have profited by catering, at our expense, to the jea- 
lous sensibilities and debauched tastes of your coun- 
trymen. Admitting that you are fiimiliar Avith the 
history of slavery and the past discussions of it, as 
I did, I now think rather broadly, in my former 



175 

letter, what can you hww of the true conditim of the 
" poor sLive " here ? I am not aware tliat you have 
ever visited this country, or even the West Indies. 
Can you suppose that because you have devoted your 
life to the investigation of the subject — commencing 
it nnder the influence of an enthusiasm so melancholy 
at first and so volcanic afterwards as to be nothing 
short of hallucination — pursuing it as men of one idea 
do everything, with the single purpose of establishing 
your own view of it — gathering your information from 
discharged seamen, disappointed speculators, factious 
politicians, visionary reformers and scurrilous tourists 
— opening your ears to every species of complaint, exag- 
geration and falsehood that interested ingenuity could 
invent, and never for a moment questioning the truth 
of anything that could make for yonr cause — -can you 
suppose that all this has qualified you, living the while 
in England, to form or approximate towards the for- 
mation of a correct opinion of the condition of slaves 
among us? I know the power of self-delusion. I 
have not the least doubt that you think yourself the 
very best informed man alive on this subject, and that 
many think so likewise. So far as facts go, even after 
deducting from your list a great deal that is not fact, I 
will not deny that probably your collection is the 
most extensive in existence. But as to the tru.tli in 
regard to slavery, there is not an adult in this region 
but knows more of it than you do. Tnitli and fact 
are, you are aware, by no means synonimous terms. 
Ninety-nine facts may constitute a falsehood : the hun- 
dredth, added or alone, gives the truth. With all 
your knowledge of facts, I undertake to say that you 
are entirely and grossly ignorant of the real condition 



1T6 

of our slaves. And from all that I can see, yon are 
eqnally ignorant of the essential principles of human 
association I'evealed in history, both sacred and pro- 
fane, on which slavery rests, and which will perpetuate 
it forever in some form or other. However you may 
declaim against it ; however powerfully you may array 
atrocious incidents; whatever appeals j^ou may make 
to the heated imaginations and tender sensibilities 
of mankind, believe me, your total blindness to 
the tvliole truth^ which alone constitutes the truths 
incapacitates you from ever making an impression 
on the sober reason and sound common sense of the 
world. You may seduce thousands — you can con- 
vince no one. Whenever and wherever you or the 
advocates of your cause can arouse the passions of the 
weakminded and the ignorant, and, bringing to bear 
with them the interests of the vicious and unprincipled, 
overwhelm common sense and reason — as God some- 
times permits to be done — you may triumph. Such a 
triumph we have witnessed in Great Britain, But I 
trust it is far distant here : Nor can it from its nature 
be extensive or enduring:. Othei* classes of Reform- 
ers, animated by the same spirit as the Abolitionists, 
attack the institution of marriage, and even the estab- 
lished relations of Parent and Child. And they col- 
lect instances of barbarous cruelty and shocking 
degradation which rival, if they do not throw into the 
fehade, your slavery statistics. But the rights of mar- 
riage and parental authority rest upon truths as ob- 
vious as they are unchangeable — coming home to 
every human being — self-impressed forever on the 
individual mind, and cannot be shaken until the whole 
man is corrupted, nor subverted until civilized society 



Ill 

becomes a putrid mass. Domestic slavery is not so 
universally understood, nor can it make such a direct 
appeal to individuals or society beyond its pale. Here, 
prejudice and passion have room to sport at the ex- 
pense of others. They may be excited and urged to 
dangerous action, remote from the victims they mark 
out. They may, as they have done, effect great mis- 
chief; but they cannot be made to maintain, in the 
long run, dominion over reason and common sense, nor 
ultimately put down what God has ordained. 

You deny, however, that slavery is sanctioned by 
God, and your chief argument is that when he gave to 
Adam dominion over the fruits of the earth and the 
animal creation he stopped there. " He never gave 
him any further right over his fellow men." You 
restrict the descendants of Adam to a very short list 
of rights and powers, duties and responsibilities, if 
you limit them solely to those conferred and enjoined 
in the first chapter of Genesis. It is very obvious 
tliat in tbis narrative of the creation Moses did not 
have it in view to record any pai-t of the Law in- 
tended for the government of man in his social or 
political state. Eve was not yet created ; the expul- 
sion had not taken place ; Cain was unborn ; and no 
allusion whatever is made to the manifold decrees of 
God to which these events gave rise. The only serious 
answer this argument deserves, to say what is so mani- 
festly true, that God's not expressly giving to Adam 
"any right over his fellow men" by no means ex- 
cluded Hira from conferring that i-ight on his descend- 
ants; which he in fact did. We know that Abraham, 
the chosen one of God, exercised it and held property 
in his fellow man, and even anterior to the period 



178 

when property in laud was acknowledged. We might 
infer that God had authorised it. But we are not 
reduced to inference or conjecture. At the hazard of 
fatiguing you by repetition, I will again refer you to 
the ordinances of the Scriptures. Innumerable in- 
stances might be quoted where God has given and 
commanded men to assume dominion over their fellow 
men. But one will suffice. In the twenty-fifth chap- 
ter of Leviticus you will find Domestic Slavery^pre- 
ci'Sely such as is maintained at tliis day in these States 
■ — ordained and established by God., in language which 
I defy you to ])ervert so as to leave a doubt on any 
honest mind that this institution tvas founded by Him, 
and decreed to be ^perpetual. I quote the words : 

Leviticus, xxv. 44 : "Both thy Bondmen, and thy 
Bondmaids, which thou shalt have, shall be of the 
Heathen [Africans] that are round about you ; of them 
ye shall buy Bondmen and Bondmaids^ 

45 : " Moreover of the children of the strangers 
that do sojourn among you, of them shall ye buy, and 
of their families that are with you which they begat in 
your land ; [descendants of Africans?] and they shall 
be your possession." 

46 : " And ye shall take them as an inheritance for 
your cldldren after you., to inherit them for a ])OSsession. 
They shall be your Bondmen forever." 

What human Le2:islature could make a decree 
more full and explicit than this ? What Court of Law 
or Chaucery could defeat a title to a slave couched in 
terms so clear and complete as these ? And this is the 
LaiD of God., whom you pretend to worship, while you 
denounce and traduce us for respectiug it. 

It seems scarcely credible, but the fact is so, that 



179 

you deny tliis Law so plainly written, and, in the face 
of it, liavc the hardiliood to declare that "though 
slavery is not specijically^ yet it is virtually forbidden 
in the Scriptures, because all the crimes which neces- 
sarily arise out of slavery, and which can arise from no 
other source, are reprobated there and threatened 
with divine vengeance.'' Such an unworthy subter- 
fuge is scarcely entitled to consideration. But its 
gross absurdity may be exposed in few words. I do 
not know what crimes you particularly allude to as 
arising from slavery. Buh you will perha])s admit — 
not because they are denounced in the decalogue, 
which the Abolitionists respect only so far as they 
choose, but because it is the immediate interest of most 
men to admit — that disobedience to parents, adultery, 
and stealing: are crimes. Yet these crimes " neces- 
sarily arise from" the relations of parent and child, 
marriage, and the possession of private 2:)roperty; at 
least they "can arise from no other sources." Then, 
according to your argument, it is " virtually forbidden " 
to mari-y, to beget children, and to hold private pro- 
perty ! Nay, it is forbidden to live, since murder can 
only be perpetrated on living subjects. You add that 
" in the same way the gladiatorial shows of old, and 
other barl)arous customs, Avere not specifically for- 
bidden in the New Testament, and yet Christianity 
was the sole means of their suppi'ession." This is very 
true. But these shows and barbarous customs thus 
suppressed, were not authorized hy God. They were 
not ordained and commanded by God for the benefit 
of His chosen people and mankind, as the purchase 
and holding of Bondmen and Bondmaids were. Had 
they been, the}' would never have been "suppressed 



180 

by Christianity," any more than slavery can be by 
your party. Although Christ came "not to destroy 
but fulfil the Law," he nevertheless did formally 
abrogate some of the ordinances promulgated by 
Moses, and all such as were at war with his mission of 
" peace and good will on earth." He " specifically " 
annuls, for instance, one " barbarous custom " sanc- 
tioned by those ordinances, where he says: "ye have 
beard that it hath been said, an eye for an eye and a 
tooth for a tooth ; but I say unto you that ye resist 
not evil, but whosoever shall smite thee on the right 
cheek turn him the other, also." Now, in the time of 
Christ, it was usual for masters to put their slaves to 
death on the slightest provocation. They even killed 
and cut them up to feed their fishes. He was un- 
doubtedly aware of these things, as well as of the 
Law and Commandment I have quoted. He could 
only have been restrained from denouncing them, as 
he did the " lex tcdionis^'' because he knew that, in 
despite of these barbarities, the institution of slavery 
was at the bottom a sound and wholesome as well as 
lawful one. Certain it is, that in His wisdom and 
purity he did not see proper to interfere with it. In 
your wisdom, however, you make the sacrilegious at- 
tempt to overthrow it. 

You quote the denunciation of Tyre and Sidon, 
and say that " the chief reason given by the Prophet 
Joel for their destruction, was, that they were notori- 
ous beyond all others for carrying on the Slave Trade." 
I am afraid you think we have no Bibles in the slave 
States, or that we are unable to read them. I cannot 
otherwise account for your making this reference, un- 
less indeed your own reading is confined to an expur- 



181 

gated edition, prepared for the use of the Abolition- 
ists, in which everything relating to slavery that mili- 
tates against their view of it is left out. The Prophet 
Joel denounces the Tyrians and Sidonians because " The 
children also of Judali and the children of Jerusalem 
have ye sold unto the Grecians." And what is the 
divine vengeance for this " notorious slave trading ? " 
Hear it. " And I will sell your sons and daughters 
into the hands of the children of Judah, and they 
shall sell them to the Sabeans, to a people far oif : for 
the Lord hath spoken it." Do you call this a condem- 
nation of slave-trading ? The Prophet makes God 
Himself a participator in the crime, if that be one. 
" The Lord hath spoken it," he says, that the Tyrians 
and Sidonians shall be sold into slavery to strangers. 
Their real offence was in enslaving the Chosen People ; 
and their sentence was a repetition of the old Com- 
mand, to make slaves of the " Heathen round about." 
I have dwelt upon your scriptural argument be- 
cause you profess to believe the Bible ; because a large 
proportion of the Abolitionists profess to do the same, 
and to act under its sanction ; because your Circular is 
addressed in part to "professing Christians;" and 
because it is from that class mainly that you expect to 
seduce converts to your anti-christian, I may say, infidel 
doctrines. It would be wholly unnecessary to answer 
you to any one who reads the Scriptures for himself, 
and construes them according to any other formula 
than that which the Abolitionists are wickedly en- 
deavoring to impose upon the world. The scriptural 
sanction of slavery is in fact so palpable, and so strong, 
that both wings of your party are beginning to ac- 
knowledge it. The more sensible and moderate admit, 
12 



182 

as the organ of the Free Church of Scotland, the 
North British Review, has lately done, that they " are 
precluded hy the statements and conduct of the Apos- 
tles from regarding mere slave-holding as essentially 
siiful ; " while the desjDerate and reckless, who are bent 
on keeping up the agitation at every hazard, declare, 
as has been done in the Anti-Slavery Record, " If our 
inquiry turns out in favor of slavery, it is the Bible 

THAT MUST FALL, AND NOT THE RIGHTS OF HUMAN NA- 

TUEE." You cannot, I am satisfied, much longer main- 
tain before the world, the Christian platform from 
which to wage war upon our Institutions. Driven 
from it, you must abandon the contest, or, repudiating 
Revelation, rush into the horrors of Natural Reli- 
gion. 

You next complain that our slaves are kept in 
bondage by the " Law of force." In what country or 
condition of mankind do you see human affairs regu- 
lated merely by the law of love ? Unless I am greatly 
mistaken you will, if you look over the world, find 
nearly all certain and permanent rights, civil, social, 
and I may even add religious, resting on and ultimately 
secured by the " law of force." The power of major- 
ities — of aristocracies — of Kings — nay of priests, for 
the most part, and of property, resolves itself at last 
into "force," and could not otherwise be long main- 
tained. Thus, in every turn of your argument against 
our system of slavery, you advance, whether con- 
scious of it or not, radical and revolutionary doctrines 
calculated to change the whole face of the world, to 
overthrow all governments, disorganize society, and 
reduce man to a state of nature — red with blood, and 
shrouded once more in barbaric ignorance. But you 



183 

greatly err, if you suppose, because we rely on force 
in tlie last resort to maintain our supremacy over our 
slaves, that ours is a stern and unfeeling domination at 
all to be compared in hard-hearted severity to that 
exercised, not over the mere laborer only, but by the 
higher over each lower order, wherever the British 
sway is acknowledged. You say that if those you 
address were " to spend one day in the South they 
would return home with impressions against slavery 
never to be erased." But the fact is universally the 
the reverse. I have known numerous instances ; and I 
never knew a single one, where there was no other 
cause of offence and no object to promote by false- 
hood, that individuals from the non-slave-holdino; 
States did not, after residing among us long enough to 
understand the subject, "return home" to defend our 
slavery. It is matter of regret, that you have never 
tried the experiment yourself. I do not doubt you 
would have been converted, for I give you credit for 
an honest though ]3erverted mind. You would have 
seen how weak and futile is all abstract reasonino- 

o 

about this matter ; and that, as a building may not be 
less elegant in its proportions, or tasteful in its orna- 
ments, or virtuous in its uses, for being based upon 
granite ; so a system of human government, though 
founded on force, may develope and cultivate the ten- 
derest and j)urest sentiments of the human heart. And 
our patriarchal scheme of domestic servitude is indeed 
well calculated to awaken the higher and finer feelings 
of our nature. It is not wanting in its enthusiasm and 
its poetry. The relations of the most beloved and 
honored chief, and the most faithful and admirino: sub- 
jects, which from the time of Homer have been the 



IS4 

tWiuo i^f 5j!C^i5i\ aiv tVigul mul imMt Ov^i«|vwyii with 
ihv>!«i^ oxfetittjr Khxxxvu tUo «K^u>r j^nvl his ^1h vvv;* ~\\ ho 
^^^rvwl hi$ t?4Thor, aiul iwkovi his oravlU\ or have Ihv4\ 
K^n\ in hfe hvnis^^hoM^ mul Wk i\>rwAi\l to sorw^ hb 
duUlrvib^^— \\ ho h.^\x* Kvu throujih li^^ tho pt\>}^s of his 
fv>rt«iu\ aikI tho objtvt of his onn^ — who havo ^virtakou 
of his griotk i4»ui kvko\l to him t\>r ovMufx^rt in thoir 
own — whv>si^ siokuoss ho h^^s sv> ftvv|uei\tly wntohovl 
o\xvr jiud rolioxxxl — whoso l\oUvla\~s ho has so otVoii 
tti.^do jovoiis by hfe Ivuutios auvl his jmvsouoo — ^>r 
whv^si^ \voltki\^ whou al^si^nt his anxivnis Sv^ioitxulo uovor 
co.HSi^ H^nd whvv*o hoiurty and atftvtiouato grootiugs 
i*o\>^r ifiiil to w^^lvvmo him hvMuo, In thfe ov>Ki oidoiv 
h4tiug\ amlntivHis v^wrUl of ours^ thorv^ are few ties 
mv^rv hoarttVxlt, or of mv>ro 1\ : iurtuoiuw thai\ 

|hv>^^ which mutually biuvi ti«v . . >,vT and tho slavo. 
uudor our auoioiit s\^unu, hj»i\dovl down frvnu tho 
Fathor of Isi^ol Tlio uuholy purpose* of tho AKdi« 
tkvuists is K> do^txvw by dotiUugit: to iut\iso inK> it 
V : '^. and '---<-: " ' w> j^ thoir own 

u\l Kv . V ^ .;ds of tho ma^tOT 

aud tho sorv^Qt; turn K^vo to hati>eii arrav*" r<>AV' 
wo^wW n*i\v^ and 

You think it a eroat ** crimte^'^ that w^ do not pay our 
s.la\x>s "xii-a^^s," ar.d on this acvvunt pronvMmoo us 
" rv^bK r^" In u^y tonnor lottor I s^howoii that tho 
laK>r ot vHJr slavos \>-a$ not without irroat ov^st to ns, 
whI that iu tact thoy thomsohx^ ivooi\*o nK>ro in r^ 
tunt ivMT it than your hirolings do ^vr thoirss For what 
pur^v\?o do nnni lalvr. but to supjx>rt thomsolvos and 



inr, 

i]\f'\v niinilI(!H In wli-'it c'tini'ort ihcy nrc uhV;? 'Hie 
ciYoriA of uu'.vc pliyhical ]jJ)or H<;Morri siifTif/; to j'>rovifle 
rrion; tli?i,ri u livcJihof^fl. Aii'l it in a well krK>vvn and 
Hlior;kInf( i'uci, Uiat whiht f'lW OjKjrativoH in (irv-,at 
Hritain Hiicc(j(;d in Hocurin^^ a cornfortahlo living, th^j 
grf;af<;r [mrf; draf.; out a miH<',rn\>](; cxiHt^jnco, and nink 
at JjJHt undfjr ahnolutc want. Of wliat avail is it that 
yon u<> t}iron;.'Ti tlio for-rn of payinf.; tlKiin a pittaricf; of 
wli.'it, yon call "wages," wlicn you do not, in rf;liirn for 
tln^ir HcrviccH, allow tli'irn wliat alono thoy ask — and 
fiavc a jnst riglit to df^rnand — finongli to foofl, olotlio 
and lodge tli(!rri,iri lioaltli and sickness, witli reasonable 
comfort. 'J'liongli we do not give " wages" in rn/mei/^ 
we, do tliis for oi//r ^h/ve-^, aru] they are therefu-e h';tter 
rewardefl Ihan j/our-^. It is the, prevailing vice and 
error of tin; age, and one from wliich the Al>olitlonists, 
with all tlieir saintly pretensions, are far from being 
i'vct'^ to hring everything tf) the standard of money. 
Yon make gold anfl silver the gi'eat test of ha[)piness, 
T'he American slave must be wrefclied irjde,f;fl, h(;cause 
lie is not compensated for his services in ca-'fh. It is 
altogether praiseworthy to pay the labf^rer a sliilling 
a day and let him stfirve on it. To snpfjly all his 
w;i.nts abundantly, and at all times, yet withhold i'v'>m 
him 'money ^ is among "the most reprobaterl ci'imes." 
Tlie fact cannot be denied, that the mere lal^orer is 
now, Mild ,'ilways h;i,s heeri, eveiy where tliat barbarism 
has ceased, enslavefl. Among tlie innovations of 
modern times following "the decay of villeinage," has 
been the creation of a new system of slavery. The primi- 
tive and p;di'iar(;li!i,I, whicfi may al-o be called the 
sacred and. natural system, in which the laborer is 
undei' the p(;rsonal control of a fellow-being, endowed 



186 

with the sentiments and sympathies of humanity, 
exists among us. It has been ahnost everywhere else 
superseded by the modern artificial money-^jower sys- 
tem^ in which man — his thews and sinews, his hopes 
and affections, his very being, are all subjected to the 
dominion of Capital — a monster without a heart — 
cold, stern, arithmetical — sticking to the bond — taking 
ever " the pound of flesh" — working up human life 
with Engines, and retailing it out by weight and 
measure. His name of old was " Mammon, the least 
erected spirit that fell from Heaven." And it is to 
extend his Em2)ire, that you and your deluded coadju- 
tors dedicate your lives. You are stirring up mankind 
to overthrow our Heaven-ordained system of servi- 
tude, surrounded by innumerable checks, designed and 
planted deep in the human heart by God and nature, 
to substitute the absolute rule of this " Spirit Repro- 
bate," whose proj)er place was Hell. 

You charge us with looking on our slaves "as 
chattels or brutes," and enter into a somewhat elabo- 
rate argument to prove that they have " human forms," 
"talk," and even "think." Now the fact is that, 
however you may indulge in this strain for effect, it is 
the Abolitionists, and not the Slave-holders, who prac- 
tically, and in the most important point of view, regard 
our slaves as " chatties or brutes." In your calculations 
of the consequences of emancipation you pass over 
entirely those which must prove most serious, and 
which arise from the fact of their \><smg persons. You 
appear to think that we might abstain from the use 
of them as readily as if they were machines to be laid 
aside, or cattle that might be turned out to find pas- 
turage for themselves. I have heretofore glanced at 



187 

some of the results that would follow from breaking 
the bonds of so many liuman heings now peacefully 
and happily linked into our social system. The tragic 
horrors, the decay and ruin that would for years, per- 
haps for ages, brood over our land, if it could be 
accomplished, I will not attempt to portray. But do 
you fancy the blight would, in such au event, come to 
ns alone ? The diminution of the sugar crop of the 
West Indies affected Great Britain only, and there 
chiefly the poor. It was a matter of no moment to 
Capital, that Labor should have one comfort less. Yet 
it has forced a reduction of the British duty on sugar. 
Who can estimate the consequences that must follow 
the annihilation of the cotton crop of the slave-holding 
States ? I do not undervalue the importance of other 
articles of commerce, but no calamity could befall the 
world at all comparable to the sudden loss of two 
millions of bales of cotton annually. From the deserts 
of Africa to the Siberian wilds — from Greenland to 
the Chinese Wall, there is not a spot of earth but 
would feel the sensation. The Factories of Europe 
would fall with a concussion that would shake down 
castles, palaces and even thrones; while the ''purse- 
proud, elbowing insolence" of our Northern monopo- 
list would disappear forever under the smooth speech 
of the peddler, scouring our frontiers for a livelihood, 
or the bluff vulgarity of the South Sea whaler, fol- 
lowing the harpoon amid storms and shoals. Doubt- 
less the Abolitionists think we could grow cotton 
without slaves, or that at worst the reduction of the 
crop would be moderate and temporary. Such gross 
delusions show how profoundly ignorant they are of 
our condition here. 



188 

You declare that " the character of the people of 
the South has long been that of liavdened Infidels^ 
who fear not God, and have no regard for religion." 
I will not repeat what I said in my former letter on 
this point. I only notice it to ask you how you could 
possibly reconcile it to your profession of a Christian 
spirit, to make such a malicious charge — to defile your 
soul with such a calumny against an unoftending 
people ? 

" You are old ; 
Nature in you stands on the very verge 
Of her confines. You should be ruled and led 
By some discretion." — 

May God forgive you. 

Akin to this is the wanton and furious assault 
made on us by Mr. Macaulay in his late speech on 
the Sugar duties, in the House of Commons, which 
has just reached me. His denunciations are wholly 
without measure, and among other things he asserts 
" that Slavery in the United States wears its worst 
form ; that, boasting of our civilization and freedom, 
and frequenting Christian Churches, we breed up 
slaves, nay, beget children for slaves, and sell them at 
so much a head." Mr. Macaulay is a Reviewer, and 
he knows that he is " nothing if not critical." The 
practice of his trade has given him the command of all 
the slashing and vituperative phrases of our language, 
and the turn of his mind leads him to the habitual use 
of them. He is an author, and as no copy-right law 
secures for him from this country a consideration for 
his writings, he is not only independent of us, but 
naturally hates everything American. He is the Re- 
presentative of Edinbui-gh ; it is his cue to decry our 



189 

slavery, and in doing so he may safely indulge the 
malignity of his temper, his indignation against us, and 
his caj)acity for railing. He has suffered once for 
l)eii]g in advance of his time in favor of Abolition, 
and he does not intend that it shall be forgotten, or 
his claim j>assed over to any crumb which may now 
be thrown to the vociferators in the cause. If he does 
not know that the statements he has made respecting 
the slaveholders of this country are vile and atrocious 
falsehoods, it is because he does not think it worth his 
while to he sure he speaks the truth, so that he speaks 
to his own purpose. 

" nic niger est, hunc tn, Romane caveto." 

Such exhibitions as he has made may draw the 
applause of a British House of Commons, but among 
the sound and high-minded thinkers of the world they 
can only excite contempt and disgust. 

But you are not content with depriving us of all 
religious feelings. You assert that our slavery has 
also " demoralized the Northern States," and charge 
upon it not only every common violation of good 
order there, but the " Mormon murders," the " Phila- 
delphia riots," and all " the exterminating wars against 
the Indians." I wonder that you did not increase the 
list by adding that it had caused the recent inundation 
of the Mississippi, and the hurricane in the West 
Indies — perhaps the insurrection of Rebecca, and the 
war in Scinde. You refer to the law prohiljiting the 
transmission of Abolition publications through the 
mail as proof of general corruption ! You could not 
do so, however, without noticing the late detected es- 
pionage over the British Post Office by a Minister of 



190 

State. It is true, as you say, it " occasioned a general 
outburst of National feeling" — from the opposition ; 
and a " Parliamentary inquiry was instituted " — that 
is moved, but treated quite cavalierly. At all events, 
tliougli the fact was admitted. Sir James Graham yet 
retains tlie Home Department. For one, I do not 
undertake to condemn him. Such thinofs are not 
against the laws and usages of your country. I do 
not know fully what reasons of State may have in- 
fluenced him and justified his conduct. But I do know 
that there is a vast difference, in point of " national 
morality," between the discretionary power residing in 
your Government to open any letter in the public 
post office, and a well-defined and limited law to pre- 
vent the circulation of certain specified incendiary 
writings by means of the United States Mail. 

Having now referred to everything like argument 
on the subject of Slavery that is worthy of notice in 
your letter, permit me to remark on its tone and style, 
and very extraordinary bearing upon other Institu- 
tions of this country. You commence by addressing 
certain classes of our people as belonging to " a nation 
whose character is now so low in the estimation of the 
civilized world ; " and throughout you maintain this 
tone. Did the Americans who were " under your roof 
last summer " inform you that such language would be 
gratifying to their fellow-citizens " ha\dng no practical 
concern with slaveholdino^ ? " Or do the infamous libels 
on America, which you read in our Abolition papers, 
induce you to believe that all that class of people are, 
like the Abolitionists themselves, totally destitute of 
patriotism or pride of country % Let me tell you that 
you are grossly deceived. And although your stock 



191 

brokers and other speculators, who have been bitten 
in American ventures, may have raised a stunning 
" cry " against us in Enghmd, there is a vast body of 
people here besides slave-holders, who justly 

" Deem their own land of every land the pride, 
Beloved by Heaven o'er all the world beside." 

And who hiiow that at this moment we rank anions: 
the First Powers of the world — a position which we 
not only claim, but are always ready and able to main- 
tain. 

The style you assume in addressing your Northern 
friends is in perfect keeping with your apj)arent esti- 
mation of them. Though I should be the last, per- 
haps, to criticise mere style, I could not but be struck 
with the extremely simple manner of your letter. 
You seem to have thought you were writing a Tract 
for benighted Heathen, and telling wonders never 
before suggested to their imagination, and so far above 
their untutored comprehension as to require to be 
related in the primitive language of " the child's own 
book." This is sufficiently amusing; and would be 
more so but for the coarse and bitter epithets you con- 
tinually apply to the poor slave-holders — epithets 
which appear to be stereotyped for the use of Aboli- 
tionists, and which form a large and material part of 
all their arguments. 

But perhaps the most extraordinary part of your let- 
ter is your bold denunciation of " tlie shameful compro- 
mises'''' of our Constitution, and your earnest recom- 
mendation to those you address to overthrow or revolu- 
tionize it. In so many words you say to them, " you must 
eitlier se])arate yourselves from all political connexion 



192 

with the South, aud make your own laws ; or, if you do not 
choose such a separation, you must break up the 2)olitical 
ascendancy lohicli the Southern have had for so long a 
time over the Northern States^'' The italics in this as 
in all other quotations are your own. It is well for 
those who circulate your letter here, that the Constitu- 
tion you denounce requires an overt act to constitute 
Treason. It may be tolerated for an American, by 
birth, to use on his own soil the freedom of speaking 
and writing which is guaranteed to him, and abuse 
our Constitution, our Union, and our people. But 
that a Foreigner should use such seditious language, 
in a Circular Letter addressed to a portion of the 
American people, is a presumption well calculated to 
excite the indignation of all. The party known in 
this country as the Abolition Party has long since 
avowed the sentiments you express, and adopted the 
policy you enjoin. At the recent Presidential election 
they gave over 62,000 votes for their own Candidate, 
and held the balance of power in two of the largest 
States — wanting but little of doing it in several othei's. 
In the last four years their vote has quadrupled. 
Should the infatuation continue, and their vote increase 
in the same ratio, for the next four years, it will be as 
large as the vote of the actual slave-holders of the Union. 
Such a prospect is doubtless extremely gratifying to 
you. It gives hope of a contest on such terms as may 
insure the downfall of Slavery or our Constitution. 
The South venerates the Constitution, and is prepared 
to stand by it forever, such as it came from the hands 
of our fathers ; to risk everything to defend and 
maintain it iu its integrity. But the South is under 
no such delusion as to believe that it derives any 



193 

peculiar protection from the Union. On the contrary, 
it is well known we incur ijecidiar danger^ and that 
we bear far more than our proportion of the burdens. 
The apprehension is also fast fading away that any of 
the dreadful consequences commonly predicted will 
necessarily result from a separation of the States. 
And, come loliat may^ we are firmly resolved that our 
SYSTEjr OF Domestic Slavery shall stand. The fate 
of the Union then — but thank God not of Republican 
Government — rests mainly in the hands of the people 
to whom your letter is addressed — the "j)rofessing 
Christians of the Northern States having no concern 
with slaveholding," and whom with incendiary zeal you 
are endeavoring to stir up to strife — without which 
fanaticism can neither live, move, nor have any being. 
We have often been taunted for our sensitiveness 
in regard to the discussion of Slavery. Do not sup- 
pose it is because we have any doubts of our rights, 
or scruples about asserting them. There was a time 
when such doubts and scruples were entertained. Our 
ancestors opposed the introduction of Slaves into this 
country, and a feeling adverse to it was handed down 
from them. The enthusiastic love of liberty fostered 
by our Revolution strengthened this feeling. And 
before the commencement of the Abolition amtation 
here, it was the common sentiment that it was desira- 
ble to get rid of Slavery. Many thought it our duty 
to do so. When that agitation arose, we were driven 
to a close examination of the subject in all its bear- 
ings, and the result has been an universal conviction 
that in holding Slaves we violate no law of God — 
inflict no injustice on any of his creatures — while the 
terrible consequences of emancipation to all parties 



194 

and the world at large, clearly revealed to us, make U3 
shudder at the bare thought of it. The slaveholders 
are therefore indebted to the Abolitionists for perfect 
ease of conscience, and the satisfaction of a settled 
and unanimous determination in reference to this 
matter. And could their agitation cease now, I be- 
lieve, after all, the good would preponderate over the 
evil of it in this country. On the contrary, however, 
it is ui'ged on with frantic violence, and the Abolition- 
ists, reasoning in the abstract — as if it were a mere 
moral or metaphysical speculation, or a minor question 
in politics — profess to be surprised at our exasperation. 
In their ignorance and recklessness they seem to be 
unable to comprehend our feelings or position. The 
subversion of our rights, the destruction of our pro- 
perty, the disturbance of our peace and the peace of 
the world, are matters which do not appear to arrest 
their consideration. When Revolutionary France pro- 
claimed " Hatred to Kings and unity to the Repub- 
lic," and inscribed on her banners " France risen 
against Tyrants," she professed to be only worshiping 
" Abstract Rights." And, if there can be such things, 
jDcrhaps she was. Yet all Europe rose to put her 
sublime theories down. They declared her an enemy 
to the common peace ; that her doctrines alone violated 
the " Law of Neighborhood," and, as Mr. Burke said, 
justly entitled them to anticipate the "damnum nondum 
factum" of the civil law. Dantou, Barrere and the 
rest were apparently astonished that umbrage should 
be taken. The parallel between them and the Aboli- 
tionists holds good in all respects. 

The rise and progress of this Fanaticism is one of 
the phenomena of the age in which we live. I do 



195 

not intend to repeat what I have already said, or to 
trace its career more minutely at present. But the 
Legislation of Great Britain will make it historical ; 
and, doubtless, you must feel some curiosity to know 
how it will figure on the page of the Annalist. I 
think I can tell you. Tliough I have accorded and do 
accord to you and your party great influence in bring- 
ing about the Parliamentary action of your country, 
you must not expect to go down to posterity as the 
only cause of it. Though you trace the progenitors of 
Abolition from 1516, through a long stream with divers 
branches, down to the period of its triumph in your 
country ; it has not escaped contemporaries, and will 
not escape posterity, that England, without much 
effort, sustained the storm of its scoffs and threats until 
the moment arrived when she thought her colonies 
fully su2:)plied with Africans ; and declared against the 
Slave Trade only when she deemed it unnecessary to 
her, and when her colonies full of Slaves would have 
great advantages over others not so well provided. 
Nor did she agree to West India emancipation until, 
discovering the error of her previous calculation, it be- 
came an object to have slaves free throughout the 
Westei-n world, and, on the ruins of the Sugar and 
Cotton growers of America and the Islands, to build 
up her great Slave Empire in the East; while her 
indefatigable exertions, still continued, to engraft the 
Right of Search upon the Law of Nations, on the plea 
of putting an end to the forever increasiug Slave 
Trade, are well understood to have chiefly in view the 
complete establishment of her supremacy at sea.* 

* On these points let me recommend you to consult a very able Essay 
on the Slave Trade and Eight of Search by M. Jollivet, recently pub- 



196 

Nor must you flatter yourself that your party will 
derive historic dignity from the names of the illus- 
trious British statesmen who have acted with it. Their 
country's ends Avere theirs. They have stooped to use 
you, as the most illustrious men will sometimes use the 
vilest instruments, to accomplish their own purposes. 
A few philanthrojoic common places and rhetorical 
flourishes, " in the abstract," have secured them your 
"sweet voices," and your influence over the tribe 
of mawkish sentimentalists. Wilberforce may have 
been yours, but what was he besides, but a wealthy 
county member ? You must therefore expect to stand 
on your own merits alone before posterity, or rather 
that portion of it that may be curious to trace the 
history of the Delusions which from time to time pass 
over the surface of human affairs, and who may trouble 
themselves to look through the ramifications of Trans- 
cendentalism in this era of extrava2:ances. And how 
do you expect to appear in their eyes ? As Christians, 
piously endeavoring to enforce the will of God and 
carry out the principles of Christianity? Certainly 
not, since you deny or pervert the Scriptures in the 
doctrines you advance ; and in your conduct furnish 
a glaring contrast to the examples of Christ and the 
Apostles. As Philanthropists, devoting yourselves to 
the cause of humanity, relieving the needy, comforting 
the afflicted, creating peace and gladness and plenty 
round about you ? Certainly not, since you turn from 

lished; and as you say, since writing your Circular Letter, that you 
" burn to try your Land on another little Essay if a subject could be found," 
I propose to you to " try " to answer this question, put by M. Jollivet 
to England : '■'Pourquoi sa philanthropie rCa pas daigne^ jusqu' a present, 
douhler le cap de Bonne-Esperance ?" 



19T 

the needy, the afflicted; from strife, sorrow and star- 
vation wbicli surround you ; close your eyes and hands 
upon them ; shut out from your thoughts and feelings 
the human misery which is real, tangible, and within 
your reach, to indulge your morbid imagination in 
conjuring up woes and wants among a strange people 
in distant lands, and offering them succor in the shape 
of costless denunciations of their best friends, or by 
scattering among them " firebrands, arrows, and death." 
Such folly and madness — such wild mockery and base 
imposture, can never win for you, in the sober judgment 
of future times, the name of Philanthropists. Will 
you even be regarded as worthy citizens ? Scarcely, 
when the purposes you have in view can only be 
achieved by revolutionizing governments and over- 
turning social systems, and when you do not hesitate 
zealously and earnestly to recommend such measures. 
Be assured, then, that posterity will not regard the 
Abolitionists as Christians, Philanthropists, or virtuous 
citizens. It will, I have no doubt, look upon the mass 
of the party as silly enthusiasts, led away by design- 
ing characters, as is the case with all parties that 
break from the great, acknowledged ties that bind 
civilized man in fellowship. The leaders themselves 
will be regarded as mere ambitious men / not taking 
rank with those whose ambition is " ea£:le-win<red and 
sky-aspiring," but belonging to that mean and selfish 
class who are instigated by " rival-hating envy," and 
whose base thirst is for Notoriety ; who cloak their 
designs under vile and impious hypocrisies, and, un- 
able to shine in higher spheres, devote themselves to 
Fanaticism as a trade. And it will be perceived that, 
even in that, they shunned the highest walk. Ke- 
13 



198 

ligious Fanaticism was an old established vocation, in 
whicli something brilliant was required to attract at- 
tention. They could not be George Foxes, nor 
Joanna Southcotes, nor even Joe Smiths. But the 
dullest pretender could discourse a jumble of pious 
bigotry, natural rights, and drivelling philanthropy. 
And, addressing himself to aged folly and youthful 
vanity, to ancient women, to ill-gotten wealth, to the 
reckless of all classes who love excitement and change, 
offer each the cheapest and the safest glory in the 
market. Hence, their numbers; and, from number 
and clamor, what impression they have on the world. 

Such I am persuaded is the light in which the 
Abolitionists will be viewed by the posterity their 
history may reach. Unless, indeed — which God for- 
bid — circumstances should so favor as to enable them 
to produce a convulsion which may elevate them higher 
on the " bad eminence " where they have placed them- 
selves. 

I have the honor to be 

Your obedient servant, 

J. H. HAMMOND. 

TnoMAB Clareson, Esq. 



AN ORATION 

DELIVERED BEFORE THE TWO SOCIETIES OF THE SOUTH CAROLINA 
COLLEGE ON THE FOURTH OF DECEMBER, 1849. 

We are accustomed to regard tlie age in wliicli we 
live not only as the most enlightened which the world 
has known, but one of unprecedented progress. The 
rapidity with which ideas and events disseminated by 
the press, fly on the wings of steam and electricity 
around the globe, leads us to suppose that the sum 
total of human knowledge is far greater than it ever 
has been ; and the discoveries in art and science, which 
are continually announced, induce the belief that hu- 
man improvement is advancing at a pace beyond all 
former example. These two conclusions, so univer- 
sally prevalent, are fast conducting us to others of 
much higher import, and of much more doubtful 
truth. "We," said Bentham, repeating an aphorism 
of Lord Bacon, " we are the ancients," and the whole 
school of Utilitarians— by far the most numerous of 
our day — declare that there was little wisdom in the 
past, and that nothing is venerable in antiquity. The 
present then and the future, we are taught, are alone 
worthy of our thoughts and cares. 



200 

Indeed a calm ol)sorvor of mankind in our era 
might be led to think that the UtiUtarians and most 
of the enthnsiastie admirers of modern progress, be- 
lieve that the seeds of it spontaneously germinated 
and could never fail ; that discoveries and invent it)ns 
are lucky accidents that will constantly recur; that tlie 
great events which influence the higher destinies of 
our species are the results of chance ; and that the 
only task for man is to make the best use, each for 
himself, of whatever good fortune may throw in his 
way. But such absurd opinions no one will o]>enly 
acknowledge that he entertains. All admit, when 
forced to reason, that there must be causes for eilects. 
And, in general, the improvements of our age are 
attributed to the advance of physical and experimen- 
tal philosophy, of which Lord Bacon is referred to as 
the founder. 

The (^pinion that modern progress dates from the 
era of Bacon, and rests upon the philosophy with 
vrhich his name is now most associated, has of late 
been so widely diffused, and so strenuously inculcated, 
that it is becoming, even among tlie most intelligent, a 
fixed belief; and, to look further back than to him 
and his doctrines, is deemed unnecessary for any use- 
ful purpose of the present day — all beyond being 
matters of curious inquiry and fit studies for elegant 
leisure, but of little value to the earnest and practical 
man of our enlightened age. And in the same spirit 
we are taught to pass lightly by all moral theories, and 
to treat with contempt all metaphysical discussion. 

But the causes thus assigned for the progress of 
mankind, during the last two centuries, are wholly 
inadequate, and to a very great degree untrue. Who- 



201 

ever limi'te his vi<iws to the consideration of these 
causes only, cannot possibly compi-ehend the civilizar 
tion he enjoys, and is, of coui-se, not capable of per- 
forming thoroughly his o\ati part in the impoitant 
affairs of life — ^much less of promoting the welfare of 
those who are to come after us. 

It is well known that the Novum Organ um of 
Bacon was a sealed book to his contemporaries. Even 
Hobbes, his amanuensis, was not his disciple. The 
greatest admirei*s of this tJ'uly great man — ^to whom 
was vouchsafed the utmost intellectual capacity with 
which man can, so far as we know, be endoM'ed — 
admit that this work has been more read >A'ithin the 
present century than duiing the two previous — more 
since than before the time when Newton discovered 
the true theory^ of motion, when Lavoisier erected 
chemistry into a science, and Watt applied steam to 
iiseful purposes ; while there is no reason to suppose 
that any of these illustrious men had been students of 
the new philosophy of Bacon. We owe a very large 
proporti<^n of the discoveries and inventions of modern 
times to Italy, where this philosophy has not yet 
penetrated. 

But Bacon himself lived in an age when progress 
had already made vast and rapid strides ; when the 
grandest discoveiies had been already effected in phy- 
sics and A'eriJ&ed by experiment ; and when the founda- 
tions had been laid for nearly all tlie improvements 
which have been developed to the present day. 
Paper, Gunpowder, the Mariner's Compass, and the 
art of Printing had long been in use. The Gopernicffln 
system, thoug^h pro>>ably unknown to Bacon, had l>een 
announced, and Galileo had made a Tele6co]>e and 



202 

demonstrated the truth of it. Harvey had discovered 
the circulation of the blood ; Paracelsus had, at least, 
rescued chemistry from the magicians ; Agricola had 
commenced mineralogy ; Leonardo had suggested the 
very theory of Geology now most in vogue ; Colum- 
bus and De Gama had revealed two new worlds to 
astonished Europe, and Sir Francis Drake had sailed 
round the globe. 

But the actual discoveries of Bacon were of little 
consequence ; it is to his system of logic and his 
method of investigation that we owe, it is said, so 
much — to his Induction and " experimentum crucisP 
If Bacon was the first author and expounder of In- 
ductive reasoning, and first suggested that nature 
should be put to the torture to disclose her facts, and 
modern improvements are due to these processes, to 
what do we owe the important discoveries before 
Bacon's time ? Can it be that they were all accidents, 
and that there was no questioning of nature — no 
induction ? Certainly not. Tubal Cain himself, if he 
discovered as well as wrought in metals, must have 
experimented in physics, and must have reasoned by 
strict induction on the results. Aristotle minutely 
examined and characterized almost every thing in 
animated nature, and, a century or more before the 
Novum Organum, Leonardo declared, in almost the 
same words, that the phenomena of nature were to be 
solved not by theories, but a rigid investigation of the 
facts. 

It is not true then that Physical Philosophy 
and Inductive reasoning began with Bacon. He pro- 
pounded a system and collected facts; but it was 
not until recently — not until men's minds had been 



203 

illumined by the light shed abroad by actual improve- 
ment — that his facts were appreciated and his system 
comprehended — a system not wholly new in theory, 
and in some parts ancient in practice. The truth is 
that discovery has done more for Bacon than he has 
done as yet for it, since it is only now that we begin 
to look with astonishment and admiration at the vast 
range and wonderful foreshadowing of his mighty 
intellect. That he was himself, in some respects, over- 
taken and outrun by the progress of his own age is suf 
ficiently illustrated by the melancholy fact that he was 
the first English judge tried and sentenced for receiv- 
ing bribes — a practice which had been universal, and, 
until his case, notoriously tolerated. 

The close inquirer will often be amazed to find 
how true it is, that, after all, there is little new under 
the sun ; to perceive from what remote sources and 
for what a period, the greatest ideas, unreahzed, 
unsystematized, almost unheeded, have floated down 
the mighty stream of time — now far out in the cur- 
rent, now driven near the shore, and finally thrown 
on some propitious headland where tbey found a 
genial soil and bear the most precious fruit. Thales 
attributed the formation of the earth to the action of 
water, and gave a hint of electricity. Pythagoras said 
the sun, and not the earth, was the centre of the 
universe, and that the planets moved round it in 
elliptical orbits. The Eoman bakers stamped their 
bread. Aristotle believed that the explosive power 
of steam was sufficient to produce earthquakes. And 
Hero of Alexandria actually applied steam power to 
a toy machine, two centuries before the Christian Era. 
So, long ago, were laid the foundations for discoveries, 



204 

whicli have, in some instances, been fully developed 
only in our age. 

But if Physical and Experimental Philosophy is of 
much older origin than the seventeenth century, it is 
not less certain that it would have been utterly 
inadequate to j^roduce the civilization we enjoy. The 
steam engine and power loom, printing, and the 
mariner's compass, have undoubtedly made vast addi- 
tions to the comforts, conveniences and enjoyments of 
the whole human family ; and it is common to say of 
them, and of other kindred inventions, that they have 
been great civilizers. But this is the language of 
metaphor — a language much too generally used, and 
too literally interpreted in our times. They have, 
indeed, been powerful instruments of civilization, and, 
in the hands of genius and enterprise, of men of 
refined and cultivated intellects, of pure and noble 
sentiments, they have been of incalculable service in 
improving and elevating the condition of mankind. 
But what service could even such mighty instruments 
have rendered, if there had not been hands strong 
enough and wise enough to wield them ? What would 
a steam engine avail a Sioux? To what purpose 
would a Ghilanese apply a printing press? For un- 
numbered ages, nature, in her grandest aspects, has 
been familiar to those wild children of the sons of 
Noah. They have little else to study. Yet they have 
penetrated but few of her secrets — have appropriated 
but few of her blessings. What is it that has en- 
abled the descendants of Japheth to conquer so many 
of her mysteries and to control, for tlieir own ends, so 
many of their powers ? To answer this question we 
must look back, and traverse a wide surface. We 



205 

may, for the most part, readily tell who made this 
discovery, who was the author of that invention ; but 
when we are asked what has brought the mind of 
the Caucasian race to its present high condition — what 
will keep it where it is — what will advance it still 
further in its glorious career; when these searching 
and necessary questions, on whose answers depend the 
whole solution of the great problem of human pro- 
gress, are propounded, we cannot but see how puerile 
and absurd it would be to say, it is Physical and 
Experimental Philosophy — a philosophy essentially 
inert and dead itself, as matter, until life has been 
breathed into it by the cultivated intellect and refined 
imagination. 

If we should say that it has taken all the past to 
make the present, we should state but the simple 
truth, and fall short of the whole truth if we said any 
thing less. It has required every event of the past, 
every teaching of philosophy in all its forms — every 
discovery of science, every work of art — every exper- 
iment whether in physics or morals, in politics or re- 
ligion, on individuals or societies — to bring our race 
to its present improved and enlightened condition. 
Whatever men have done or spoken in the whole tide 
of time has produced effects, great or small, good or 
evil, which have contributed to bring about the exist- 
ing state of things, in the midst of which it has been 
our fortune to be placed. 

In looking back over the vast field through which 
the human family have made their long and moment- 
ous pilgrimage, it would be impossible to say that 
any incident of it could have happened otherwise than 
it did, without affecting us. If the route had been 



206 

varied, if more or fewer obstacles had impeded the 
march of those who have gone before us, we could not 
now occupy the precise position that we do. The 
most successful culture of a single art or science would 
be utterly insufficient to account for any but the low- 
est grade of civilization. Nor could any combination 
of kindred arts and sciences, carried to the highest 
perfection, aj^proximate to the production of the grand 
and infinitely varied results by which we find ourselves 
surrounded. 

To know then where we are — to have any thing 
like a proper conception of the position that we really 
occupy, it is necessary for us to learn whence and how 
we came here, and to trace the mighty wanderings of 
our forefathers from the period when an offended 
Deity thrust our first parents from the gates of Eden 
— a task, beset with difficulties, from which utilitarian- 
ism shrinks. The voyager upon the shoreless ocean, 
and the traveller in the trackless desert, ascertain their 
situation by observation of the fixed and everlasting 
stars. But no such bright and steady lights shine out 
upon the boisterous sea of human aftairs, or guide the 
adventurer through the wide waste of time. Truth, 
the only safe and certain guide, does not glitter from 
the heights, but casts up a feeble, though unerring 
ray, from the very depths of nature ; and we must pass 
the prime of life in toilsome search for that, before 
we can read aright the dim traditions, and mutilated 
and discolored records which portray the wonderful 
career of man. 

But it is only when we have conquered, sacked, and 
seized possession of the past, and all the past, that we 
have real knowledge, and may then, so far as we are 



20T 

permitted to do so, comprehend ourselves — our civili- 
zation and our mission. Yet, to fulfil that mission, we 
must not only know the past, but we must judge it. 
We must mark its errors and its follies, its crimes and 
wickedness. We must note where philosophy has 
gone astray ; where superstition has betrayed its vota- 
ries ; where ambition, bigotry, and ignorance have shed 
their blights ; where that wholesome restraint, without 
which genuine liberty cannot exist, has been perverted 
into oppression, and where that just resistance to 
wrongs, which is the inherent right of all, has degen- 
erated into factious warfare and ended in anarchy and 
ruin. And we must also ascertain what pursuits have 
most promoted the enlightened happiness and welfare 
of mankind. 

Having thus armed ourselves with genuine knowl- 
edge, and learned these great and all important les- 
sons from the past, we may be prepared to determine 
what our real state of progress is, and what shall be 
done to carry onward the mighty cause of civilization. 
And we cannot fail to perceive at once, and to denounce 
the shallow falsehood of those vulgar and narrow, but 
too common notions of utility, which, overlooking the 
great essential truths that man has passions as well as 
wants — sentiments and reason as well as appetites and 
muscles — attribute our present civilization to physical 
and experimental philosophy and inductive reasoning 
on their results, and teach that the highest objects of 
life, the most important duties to posterity are fulfilled 
by constructing steam engines, and railroads, and elec- 
tric telegraphs. If, indeed, we are constrained to ad- 
mit induction and experimental philosophy to be of 
paramount importance, it will be as applied on a high- 



208 

er, broader, and nobler scale, to the events of time — 
to the motives and actions of mankind. This, indeed, 
was the essential feature in Bacon's system, and that 
on which I'eally rests all his usefulness and all his 
glory. He himself denounced experiments made for 
" productive rather than enlightening "' purposes. He 
declared that " the duties of life were more than life 
itself" — that " tlie Georgics of the mind " were worthy 
of being celebrated in heroic verse ; and, embodying 
profound truth in a striking metaphor, he said that 
" knowledges are as pyramids, whereof history is the 
basis." 

It is perhaps given to no individual thoroughly to 
know himself; to bear in mind at all times the history 
of his own life, however obscure and short it may be ; 
to comprehend precisely the exact position which he 
himself occupies in the drama of the world, or to an- 
ticipate all the consequences of his own acts, however 
well considered. Much less probable is it, therefore, 
that any single person shall be able to sift and to di- 
gest the whole history of the past, to understand all 
the relations of the men and nations who compose the 
existing generations of his race, or to look forward to 
their future destinies with, any absolute certainty. 
The great Creator and Ruler of the universe alone 
knows all that has happened, all that is doing, all that 
shall come to pass. Sucli perfect knowledge He re- 
serves for Himself, and holds fate in his mighty grasp. 
But he condescends to use His creatures as the instru- 
ments of his great works, and has not left them wholly 
blind. The genius of mankind has perhaps been 
equal, in all ages, and in all there have doubtless been 
wise men. The difference between our as:e and the 



209 

ages which have preceded it is, that, while probably 
no individual may have greater capacity and knowl- 
edge than many of his predecessors, more minds are 
actively engaged in penetrating all the mysteries of 
creation, and i-ansacking all the archives of the past ; 
while the facilities for disseminating knowledge which 
have never existed to any thing like the same extent 
before, and which we owe to various discoveries in 
the useful arts, spread it with unparalleled rapidity 
throughout the world. It strikes everywhere almost 
at the same time. Its effects are visible at once. 'No 
longer the night-blooming plant, which produces its 
blossom but once an age — knowledge now vegetates 
like the orange in its genial climes, to which spring- 
time and autumn, flowers and fruits are ever present 
together. Thus action and re-action are almost instant- 
aneous. Only two centuries ago, it required a thirty 
years' war to settle the religious and territorial dis- 
putes of a single empire. But we have ourselves just 
seen all Europe rise in arms ; every govei-nment men- 
aced, many shaken to the centre, some overthrown ; 
and peace and order again apparently established 
within the space of twenty months. So swift has 
been the communication of intelligence that the peo- 
ple of two bemispheres have been actual spectators of 
the fields of conflict, and the public opinion of both 
has been heard and felt amid the storm of battle. 
And the combatants themselves on every side, not 
only thus influenced, but guided by the light of all 
the experience of other days, have promptly decided 
where to concede and how far to resist. How lono: 
this storm, which rose with bodings as terrific as any 
that has ever broken on the repose of man, is destined 



210 

to subside, is known to none ; but can be best conjec- 
tured, not by those who transmit facts, nor even those 
who govern trade and finance, but by those who have 
made themselves most familiar with the true state of 
human progress, and are accustomed to read the future 
in the past. 

I have said that it is scarcely possible that any 
single individual can master all the past and thereby 
make liimself completely conversant with all the pres- 
ent. Indeed it is impossible. Much that is valuable 
in history is lost to us forever — buried by the inscru- 
table dispensations of Providence in the impenetrable 
mist of time. The eager inquirers of the day have 
rescued somethinor from oblivion — enou2:h to excite the 
keenest curiosity, but scarcely any thing to satisfy it. 
The arch hitherto supposed to be a modern invention, 
has been recently exhumed from the mounds of Mm- 
rod, which were once the palaces of the Assyrian 
Monarchs — where structures, which for unnumbered 
centuries have disappeared beneath their own dust, 
are found to have been reared on others, that had met 
the same fate before them. And hopes are entertained 
that if the arrow-headed characters still found on slabs, 
amid these ruins, can ever be deciphered, we shall re- 
cover glimpses of a thousand years, which have been 
hardly reckoned in chronology ; and may learn some- 
thing certain of that mighty Empire, which once over- 
shadowed, according to tradition, all the East, and 
whose civilization we have now discovered to have 
been far higher than had ever been believed. The 
new world, as well as the old, has its mysteries too. 
We have as yet no clue to the builders of Palenque, 
nor to the hands that raised the extensive and well 



211 

planned fortifications of the Scioto valley, both of 
which mark a degree of progress, to which the red 
man has never yet attained. 

But still the diligent student will find more in the 
authentic annals of mankind than a single life can 
compass. And if we desire to continue to go forward 
in the career of improvement — if we even desire to 
remain stationary where we are — nay, if we do not 
desire to retrograde, the whole intellect of our time 
should be earnestly directed and incessantly stimulated 
to study the present and the future in the past; and 
to search through all its broad fields after knowledge, 
as after hidden treasure. 

What is most desired by man is power. " I am 
famished," said Jason of Pherse, "for want of empire." 
Such, no doubt, has been the secret feeling of every 
human heart — certainly, of every elevated soul. This 
it is that drives us onward in our various pursuits. But 
men for the most part follow shadows. The only real 
and substantial power, is the power of knowledge. 
He who famishes for empire — let him grasp at that. 
And if he would build for himself a pyramid for fu- 
ture ages to behold, he must be sure to lay its foun- 
dations upon history — history in the broad sense of 
Bacon. 

I have already indicated that even the useful arts 
have a history, reaching back far beyond the era of 
this great philosopher, under the shadow of whose 
perverted reputation drivelling utilitarianism seeks a 
refuge. But whoever would analyze the framework 
of modern society, and the political and religious ele- 
ments which are its pillars, must study the history of 
events — of the acts and institutions of our ancestors. 



212 

If he cannot trace the long wanderings of the grim 
Teuton, from his Bactrian cradle, through the deep 
forests and shaking morasses of the North, to the mo- 
ment when he burst from darkness upon astonished 
Europe, he may, at least, take him up from the time 
when Alaric led him to the sack of Rome, overturned 
the decayed civilization of antiquity and rescued 
Christianity from a race, which, having failed to de- 
stroy it by persecution, would have entombed it with 
itself. Here commences modern history and Teutonic 
ascendency, though four dark and agonizing centuries 
elapsed before their birth can be said to have been 
fully accomplished ; centuries of incessant action and 
experiment, in which a grand and terrible philosophy 
was at work — whose crucibles were heated by human 
passions, whose universal solvent was human blood, 
and whose mortua ca^ntes were the wreck of thrones 
and dynasties. If little that was great or lasting was 
established in this period, much was tried, and the re- 
sults, both good and evil, contributed invaluable expe- 
rience. The broader and milder light of the civiliza- 
tion to which he gave consistency, shines upon the 
era of the gigantic Charlemagne ; and we clearly per- 
ceive that, when his powerful arm was withdrawn 
from it, the great experiment of Teutonic Monarchy 
failed in the hands of his successors, overwhelmed by 
the Feudal s]:)irit of our ancestors. That spirit had 
yet to accomplish its mission of consecrating the he- 
reditary principle, on the basis of indefeasible fealty, 
and compensating protection, from generation to gen- 
eration, of the rulers and the ruled ; and to foster still 
further, a lofty sense of personal dignity and honor, 
while it promoted patriotism, social sympathy, learn- 



213 

inof and relisrion. It is an invaluable lesson to us — a 
lesson which even to this day has not been fully 
learned in Europe — that this same Feudal system — 
slowly and naturally as it had been builded up, rich 
as were its fruits, indestructible as seemed the well 
wrought chain, which, stretching from prince to peas- 
ant, and penetrating all intermediate ranks, bound the 
whole structure of society in links of solid iron — fell 
beneath the bloodless blows of a despised Bourgeoisie. 
Two centuries of fanatical crusading had loosened 
many rivets, by sweeping off the flower of its chiv- 
alry ; while the new and vast channels of commerce 
which those crusades opened and put in motion, and 
the golden flood of inestimable learning which poured 
in through them from the wise, old, superannuated 
East, awakened the middle classes to a knowledge of 
their rights, and gave them strength to strike these 
blows. And then commenced afresh the struggle and 
the movement, into which new and potent elements 
were introduced. The strife of knowledge was min- 
gled with the strife of arms, and commerce and art 
unfurled their standards in the field. Schools, col- 
leges and universities soon flourished, and broad and 
stable monarchies were founded. Philosophy and let- 
ters, inventions and discoveries, manufactures and 
trade, sound governments and the refining arts, all ad- 
vanced, side by side, in the great march of progress, 
lieligion lagged behind. The illustrious foster-mother 
saw all her glorious children pass before her, till Lu- 
ther rose and broke the fetters that impeded her. The 
clogging abuses of the Old Church were in a measure 
reformed, and a New Church sprang into existence, 
which has proved the prolific parent of a hundred 
14 



214 

more. And here opens a chapter, which, perhaps 
above all others, requires the attention of those who 
who would fully understand our present condition. 
Relio-ion has exercised more influence over the tempo- 
ral affairs of man than all other causes combined, and, 
since the foundation of Christianity, no event has had 
greater influence on civilization than the Reformation. 
For more than a century after it broke out, religious 
wars and controversies assaulted every tradition and 
opinion, and shook every institution of the times. 
And from these wars and controversies, sprung mod- 
ern civil liberty ; all sides contributing in turn to its 
development. Suarez boldly announced the JefFerso- 
nian creed, that all men were born equal, and that all 
political power was derived from the people. Bu- 
chanan, anticipating Locke, declared that government 
was founded on a voluntary compact ; and honest John 
Bodin, as far in advance of Priestly and Beutham as 
he was elevated above the whole utilitarian school, 
proclaimed that the object of political association was 
the greatest good of the whole. These doctrines, pro- 
mulgated before Bacon's era, first took deepest root in 
England, and soon bred that terrible conflict, in which, 
for a time, the people trod rough shod upon kings and 
nobles; and finally ended in making Great Britain 
what she is to our day, a Republic, governed under 
Monarchical forms. Our American forefathers left 
the old world in the very heat of this great struggle, 
and brought with them those religious and political 
principles, which have contributed much, very much 
more than any physical philosophy, or utilitarian code, 
to make us what we are. 

But the earnest inquirer into our present state of 



215 

civilization, its causes and its prospects, would fall far 
short if he limited himself to filling out, however fully, 
the outline I have sketched. If Galileo was led to the 
study of astronomy by reading Ariosto, as he confessed 
he was, how much may we not, and do we not owe to 
Dante and Petrarch, to Shakspeare and Milton? If 
the inventor of the electric telegraph, and Fulton and 
Leonardo were painters, what inspiration may not 
have been derived from the immortal works of Raf- 
faelle, and Michael Angelo ? Whatever stirs the heart, 
or stimulates the imagination, will arouse the intellect 
and quicken it to action ; and whoever fails to exam- 
ine and estimate everything that influences to any ex- 
tent the conceptions and emotions of mankind, must 
fail to comprehend the problem of their progress. 

It is, as I have already said, the fashion of a large 
and prominent modern school to decry " the wisdom 
of the ancients," and account it folly to investigate 
antiquity. But, as thoroughly as the civilization of 
ancient times has been destroyed, and as essentiall}^ as 
it differed from our own, the debt we owe it is im- 
mense ; and it would be impossible to trace to their 
sources, and fully understand, ideas and institutions 
familiar to our daily life, and deeply affecting our 
feelings and our interests, if we should close our vista 
of the past with Alaric and his barbaric followers. 
The revival of letters was due in a great measure to 
the renewed study of the classics. From their pages 
our immediate ancestors learned to love liberty, and 
we, ourselves, and our posterity in all future time, may 
still gather from them deepest wisdom. 

Hume said, a century ago, that no portion of modern 
history was perhaps wholly new ; and T>r. Arnold has 



216 

recently remarked that ancieut history affords political 
lessons more applicable to our times, than any part of 
modern history previous to the eighteenth century. 
These observations are profoundly true. So long as 
republics exist, the tragic story of the fall of Athens, 
as recited by the vigorous and eloquent Thucydides, 
will be looked to as the most pathetic and instructive 
example of the folly and insanity of faction; of the 
evils of ill regulated ambition; of the inevitable fete 
of every people who put their trust in demagogues. 
So long as empires shall survive, mankind may learn 
from Tacitus ; may see with their own eyes, on his 
unfading canvass, the servility, the profligacy, the 
amazing treachery and appalling wickedness which 
surround despotic thrones, and crush the intellect and 
energy of the bravest and the best. So long as con- 
spiracies shall flourish, the record of the keen and 
scrutinizing Sallust will expose their arts and crimes, 
and warn them of their end. So long as any govern- 
ment whatever shall be maintained, we must look to 
Aristotle for the principles on which to erect it, and 
the maxims by which it is to be conducted. That 
great philosopher, having examined and analyzed the 
constitutions of more than a hundred and fifty com- 
monwealths, drew, from this treasury of experiments, 
results which enabled him to erect politics into a 
science. From his immortal work the whole host of 
modern writers on government, from Macchiavelli to 
Paley and those of the present day, have borrowed 
largely ; and no one can pretend to real statesman- 
ship who have not mastered it. The student of Aris- 
totle will be surprised to find how few fundamental 
improvements have been effected in the science and 



217 

practice of government, since liis time. Even tlie 
compromise between wealth and population, so lately 
and so happily introduced into the Constitution of this 
State, and never, I believe, adopted any where before, 
was suggested and discussed by him. 

In poetry, ancient genius exhausted every type of 
the ideal. It is impossible that Homer ever can be 
equalled, or that Horace can ever be surpassed. The 
Iliad, following Orpheus— perhaps, mounting higher 
— ^fixed the religion, and in a great measure formed 
the manners of the Greeks, and of the Romans, after 
them ; and its influence is felt to this day. Demos- 
thenes and Cicero are still the unrivalled masters of 
eloquence, whom we strive in vain to imitate. No 
second Venus or Apollo has ever been produced, and 
these yet stand the admiration and the models of the 
world of art. Few ambitious piles have been reared 
in modern times, that have not copied from the Pan- 
theon or the Parthenon. Even our own State House, 
though so unlike it in materials and exterior orna- 
ments, exhibits the precise dimensions of the latter. 

It has been well and truly said, and generally 
admitted, that history is but an illustration of philoso- 
phy. Action is, in the main, the result of thought ; 
and, to comprehend it thoroughly, we must penetrate 
the minds of men, and analyse their workings. To 
trace and understand our civilization, then, we must 
not only have the knowledge of the events of time, 
and of deeds, institutions, and experiments of man- 
kind, and their ideal conceptions in poetry, and art, 
and oratory— but we must study the history of 
Thought. Metaphysical and moral philosoj^hy have 
in all enlightened ages embodied the most important 



218 

ideas of the present and the past, and developed the 
tendencies of men's minds in their varying but unre- 
mitted efforts to penetrate the future. But here, as in 
common history, we find, aj^art from revelation, but 
little new in modern times. The philosophers of 
antiquity made the first charts of the human mind, 
and so complete were they, that all inquirers since 
have been mainly guided by them. The great Sen- 
sual school, which has prevailed so extensively for 
the last century and a half, and of which Locke 
is called the founder, may be referred directly to 
Aristotle, who first boldly taught that all our know- 
ledge comes through the senses. All other schools 
that deserve the name, are based on. one portion or 
another of the ideal philosophy of Plato. All philo- 
sophic theories, even the wildest and most delusive 
broodings of the imagination, if made by subtle 
reasoning to assume a consistent shape, are replete 
with interest and instruction, since they teach the 
illusions of the ages and the races, and exhibit to us 
the weakness and blindness of our nature, and the 
absurdities to which we are forever prone. But the 
two great schools of the Lyceum and Academy were 
founded on imperishable elements in human nature ; 
and, until the second advent shall shed perfect light, 
they will — after all the wheat is separated from the 
chaff — after the momentous truths of Revelation and 
the mighty facts which time developes, shall have been 
recorded over the acknowledged errors of philosophy — 
still, as they have so long done, divide between them 
a vast, unknown, and deeply interesting realm, through 
which all must travel, as all have travelled, to whom 
have been given reason, feeling, and imagination. 



219 

Whoever believes that all our ideas are derived from 
external sources through the senses, and all real know- 
ledge from experiment — that God has given man the 
peculiar faculty of reason, as the only safe guide 
through the perilous paths of life ; and that to do the 
right thing in the right place, "To EY xcu KAAQ^'' 
is the highest human wisdom^he is a follower of Aris- 
totle. Whoever, on the other hand, yields himself to 
a belief in innate ideas; whoever confides in the exalt- 
ing faith that there is " a Divinity that stirs within 
us," and that, despite "this muddy vesture of decay 
that hems us in," the Author of our being holds direct 
communion with our souls, regulating our impulses, 
guiding our instincts, and infusing into us that " long- 
ing after immortality " which sustains the struggling 
spirit through the great ^'' ISIaj/tj Aihtvaro;'''' of the 
universe — he is a disciple of Plato the Divine. 

The truly wise, the genuine christian, will perhaps 
endeavor in his practice to unite the virtues of both 
systems; and, in conformity with the Apostolic injunc- 
tion, perfect his faith by works, and thus consummate 
the civilization of mankind. 

After all that can be said for the progress of the 
last ten centuries — their brilliant epochs, their illus- 
trious characters — it cannot be denied that we must 
still look to antiquity for the noblest deeds and grand- 
est thoughts that illustrate the race of man. There 
were not only full-grown men, but giants in those 
days. And however the study of them may be de- 
cried, whosoever would become a statesman or philo- 
sopher, a poet, an artist, an orator, or a divine ; 
whoever would understand the human character, its 
capacity and weakness, its failures and its triumphs, to 



220 

what it has attained and what it may accomplish yet 
— must drink deep, and drink often, of the precious 
waters of those virgin fountains which were unlocked 
in Nature's first-known cycle. The solitary student, 
who seeks knowledore for the love of knowleda^e, and 
luxuriates in the rare felicity of a conscious expansion 
of the mind and elevation of the soul, will wander 
among them day and night, and make the converse of 
his life with those mighty spirits who yet hover 
around the Hill of Mars, and linger in the deep shad- 
ows of the Egerian Grove. 

Our civilization is the civilization of Christianity. 
And Christianity, alone, made all the difference between 
the ancient and the modern mind and manners. The 
questions of the deepest and most abiding interest to 
man in every age have been — Whence came he ? why 
is he here ? whither is he going ? who is the author 
of creation ? and what is its design ? To these ques- 
tions ancient philosophy could give no satisfactory 
answer. And the great men, whose immortal ideas 
and achievements have come down to us, disgusted 
with the shallow mythology of the popular super- 
stition, either wrought in ignorant and stern indiffer- 
ence to an accountability beyond the grave, or devoted 
their genius, in its prime of strength, to unavailing 
efforts to solve those mysteries of Being, which God in 
his providence still kept concealed. But when He 
came who brought life and immortality to light ; the 
real " yioyog " whom Socrates and Plato sought so ar- 
dently to comprehend, all was changed : Not suddenly, 
but gradually ; so gradually that we are yet in the 
very midst of the change, and it requires incessant 
study and consummate knowledge to know preXiisely 



221 

where we are, and wliat it is that each and all of us 
should do to fulfil the purposes of our existence. 
While the utilitarian values the christian dispensation 
chiefly because it fosters peace, and has taught us to 
regard as honorable and cultivate assiduously those 
pacific arts which promote our temporal happiness — 
the truly wise, the genuine friend of progress takes a 
more exalted view, and reads, in the momentous Reve- 
lation of a Soul to ]\Iau, a Divine Command that all 
his earthly pursuits and aims, his social and political 
organizations, shall tend to the high and glorious end 
of Soul-development. The ancients endeavored to 
develope the soul without a Revelation and without a 
command. If they failed, the efibrt was a grand one, 
the means employed were noble, and the examples 
they have set are worthy of our study, our admiration, 
and, often of our imitation. 

I have attempted to sttt)w that we do not owe our 
progress in improvement exclusively to the successful 
cultivation of physical and experimental philosophy, 
as is too generally believed ; and that other causes 
infinitely numerous, infinitely varied, and vastly influ- 
ential, have contributed, in just proportions, to the 
great results of which we are now enjoying the bene- 
fit. I have glanced in a hasty and imperfect manner 
at some of these causes, with a view to make it mani- 
fest that whoever would comprehend our civilization, 
and so comprehend it as to be able for any wise pur- 
pose to command the present, and, so far as permitted, 
shape the future, must sweep the whole circle of the 
past, and take, as Bacon himself did, " all learning for 
his province." And I may add, that, if like that great 
genius, he fails to accomplish all — as fail he must, since 



222 

universal empire is impossible — he may, like Lira, ac- 
complisli much, and leave a name inwrought with flow- 
ers and fruits upon that peaceful ensign of the nations, 
under which we are taught that all shall one day lie 
down together in safety. 

In looking around us upon the acting drama of 
life, we cannot but j)erceive how utterly contrasted 
these conclusions are with those by which a vast ma- 
jority of the existing generations seem to be governed 
in their conduct. Action, not Learning, appears to be 
the watchword of this excited age, and its beau ideal 
is the Practical Man. Wealth and Office are the only 
sources of power that are generally acknowledged ; 
and we are strenuously taught, by precept and exam- 
ple, from our cradle up, to clutch at gold and cater for 
popularity. The spirit of the age prescribes these 
means of improvement, of renown and happiness ; and 
the strongest intellects, too** rarely able to break from 
the bondage of custom and opinion, fall into the rou- 
tine and succumb beneath it. The individual of high 
endowments — capable of what is great — who listens 
to such shallow and delusive counsels, and surrenders 
himself to such vulgar uses, must inevitably run a ca- 
reer of the sorest trials and bitterest disappointments. 
The people who erect no higher standards, must surely 
— no matter what for a time may be appearances — go 
backwards from the goal of progress. 

Action is indeed the foundation of all greatness; 
but it must be action, curbed, and regulated, and di- 
rected, by profound knowledge and consummate judg- 
ment. Incessant and impulsive action is fatal to man 
and to society. Anarchy, exhaustion and premature 
decay, are its legitimate and necessary consequences. 



223 

It is no paradox to say that permanence — that perma- 
nence which is created by a just, and wholesome and 
somewhat stringent restraint of action — is the starting 
point of genuine progress, national and individual, and 
marks every footprint in the true line of march. That 
too restless spirit, which, in our day, sends almost half 
mankind roving to and fro upon the earth, and is 
breeding rash and rapid change through all its bor 
ders, can scarcely be the Spirit of Progress. If God, 
in his providence, intends it to prevail, it would rather 
seem that He means it as the instrument for l)reaking 
up the superstructure of our present civilization, as 
He did that of antiquity, to establish a broader and 
purer system in His own good time. 

The practical man — who is, on the other hand, 
v/ith no uncommon inconsistency, held up to admira- 
tion — IS the type not merely of permanence, but of 
absolute fixidity. The truly practical man is undoubt- 
edly the greatest of all men. To thorough knowledge 
he adds well directed enterprise ; and works earnestly, 
manfully, and hopefully, for high and noble ends, with 
little thought of consequences to himself. He seeks 
no selfish reward, and immediate and personal success 
are no necessities to him. Socrates was a practical 
man, though he failed in his time to crush the Soph- 
ists, and forfeited his life by his attempt to overthrow 
the popular superstitions of Athens. Archimedes was 
a practical man, though he could not save Syracuse, 
and was slain while solving a problem amid the sack 
of the city. Galileo was a practical man, though im- 
prisoned and persecuted for his discoveries, and com- 
pelled to renounce them. Bacon, too, was a practical 
man, thouo-h he fell from his hio-li office and threw 



224 

away his life in a trivial experiment. Yet all tliese 
men were regarded by most of their contemporaries 
as visionaries, as enthusiasts and dreamers; and so 
they would doubtless be regarded now, if they be- 
longed to our era. What is generally meant by a 
practical man in these days — perhaps it w^as so in all 
days — is a successful man. But life is short ; and truth 
and virtue bear fruits so slowly, that great immediate 
results are rarely achieved without a violation of their 
precepts. Intrigue, corruption, and force are the usual 
means by which practical men on a large scale advance 
themselves at the expense of others, and too often 
athwart the line of progress. The practical man of 
the more common and vulgar stamp — the geliuine util- 
itarian — succeeds by dint of energetic selfishness. Dis- 
trustful, unfeeling and narrow, he cautiously and vig- 
orously pursues his own ends, regardless of those of 
the rest of the world. He risks nothing in a cause 
not directly his own. While others less prudent, or 
more generous and brave, seek to make discoveries, to 
introduce improvements, and carry on the great war- 
fare against ignorance, and prejudice, and vice — he but 
follows the camps ; and, when a battle is fought, keeps 
aloof from the danger, and plunders the field. A 
thousand generations of such men would leave the 
world exactly where they found it. 

But the accumulation of wealth, it is thought, is 
unquestionable progress, and a source of real power 
as well as happiness to individuals and nations. Of 
mere riches these things are by no means true. The 
treasures of India have always been proverbial, yet 
the civilization of India has been stationary from the 
dawn of history. She has again and again fallen a 



225 

prey to conquest, and is at length perisliing miserably 
under a foreign yoke. China lias been for ages ab- 
sorbing the precious metals of the world in exchange 
for luxuries that have been consumed ; is the most 
populous now, and was once the most advanced nation 
of the earth. But China has been conquered too, is 
now insulted and trampled on within her own borders 
by invaders from the antipodes, and has made little or 
no progress for thousands of years. For its individ- 
ual possessor wealth will secure comfort, will com- 
mand the limited service of others, may win admira- 
tion from the weak, and may purchase the homage of 
parasites and flatterers. But all this confers no real 
power and little happiness, since it scarcely compen- 
sates for the cares and anxieties which riches impose, 
and the envy and hostility which they provoke. 
Wealth, as an instrument in the grasp of genius, learn- 
ing and enterprise, may be made the means of accom- 
plishing wonders. It may give vast power, and be- 
come a most effective agent in promoting the welfare 
and improvement of mankind. But then all that is 
achieved by it, must be referred directly to the wis- 
dom which controls and designates its uses. In this 
the actual power resides, and no rational happiness 
can bo derived from any other than a wise employ- 
ment of wealth. 

Bacon said that " men in great places were thrice 
servants : servants of the State, servants of fame, and 
servants of the people," and moreover that " the ri- 
sing into place is laborious, the standing slij)pery, and 
the downfall a regress, or an eclipse at least." These 
are truths familiar to observers in all times, and per- 
haps more frequently exemplified in our own than any 



226 

other. Yet men still continue anxious seekers after 
office. The noblest intellects and purest characters 
are still seduced by the idea that office confers power 
in proportion to its importance, and that by this 
means, " the servant of fame " may take a great and 
glorious part in promoting the welfare of his race. 
This has indeed happened, and may sometimes, though 
rarely, happen yet. But, wherever our civilization 
has shed its full light, 23ublic station, even if heredi- 
tary, and the possessor can be divested of it only by a 
revolution, enables him under ordinary circumstances, 
to exercise but a small portion of real power. Most 
of the Kings of Europe are now-a-days the merest 
cyphers ; and hereditary legislators have become the 
foot-balls of the commons. And whoever holds office 
by the suffrage, and at the sufferance of that com- 
mons, has usually undergone such drudgery, and in- 
curred such obligations, in rising into place, that he 
has neither strength, nor time, nor means to do more 
than prevent his own " downfall and eclipse," and may 
be esteemed most fortunate if he succeeds in that. In 
fact it is scarcely ever possible for him to sustain him- 
self in office for any length of time against the storms 
which envious adversaries, self-seeking demagogues, 
and his own inevitable errors will surely raise against 
him, unless he seeks refuge in some faction, sinks the 
statesman in the partisan, and, instead of controlling 
and leading the people to a higher state of civiliza- 
tion, prostitutes himself to their caprices. But were 
it possible for an individual to attain high office with- 
out corruption or deception, and hold it without con- 
cessions — could he, like Macchiavelli's model patriot, 
consolidate all authority in his own hands — the power 



227 

lie could wield, the blessings lie could confer on man- 
kind and their posterity, and the renown he might 
achieve for himself beyond embalming his name in 
the catalogue of Kings, or Presidents, or Ministers, 
would dejDend entirely upon the greatness of his ge- 
nius, and the knowledge and the wisdom he had ac- 
quired by its assiduous cultivation. 

Thus, if we should pass in review all the pursuits 
of mankind, and all the ends they aim at, under the 
instigation of their appetites and passions, or at the 
dictation of shallow utilitarian philosophy, we shall 
find that they pursue shadows and worship idols, and 
that whatever there is that is good and great and cath- 
olic in their deeds and purposes, depends for its ac- 
complishment upon the intellect, and is accomplished 
just in proportion as that intellect is stored with know- 
ledge. And, whether we examine the present or the 
past, we shall fiud that Knowledge alone is real power 
— " more powerful," says Bacon, " than the Will, com- 
manding: the reason, understandinsr, and belief," and 
" setting up a Throne in the spirits and souls of men." 
We shall find that the progress of knowledge is the 
only true and permanent progress of our race, and 
that, however inventions, discoveries, and events which 
change the face of human affairs, may appear to be 
the results of contemporary efforts or providential ac- 
cidents, it is in fact the Men of Learning who lead 
with noiseless step the vanguard of civilization, that 
mark out the road over which — opened sooner or later 
— posterity marches ; and fi'om the abundance of their 
precious stores sow seed by the wayside, which spring 
up in due season, and produce an hundred fold — cast- 
ing bread upon the waters which is gathered after 



228 

many days. The age whicli gives birtli to the lar- 
gest number of such men is always the most enlight- 
ened, and the age in which the highest reverence and 
most intelligent obedience is accorded to them, al- 
ways advances most rapidly in the career of improve- 
ment. 

And let not the ambitious aspirant to enrol himself 
with this illustrious band, to fill the throne which 
learning " setteth up in the spirits and souls of men," 
and wield its absolute power, be checked, however 
humble he msij be, however unlikely to attain wealth 
or office, or secure homage as a practical man or man 
of action, by any fear that true knowledge can be sti- 
fled, overshadowed, or compelled to involuntary bar- 
renness. Whenever or wherever men meet to delib- 
erate or act, the trained intellect will always master. 
But for the most sensitive and modest, who seek re- 
tirement, there is another and a greater resource. The 
public press, accessible to all, will enable him, from 
the depths of solitude, to speak trumpet-tongued to 
the four corners of the earth. No matter how he 
may be situated — if he has facts that will bear scru- 
tiny, if he has thoughts that burn, if he is sure he has 
a call to teach — the press is a tripod from which he 
may give utterance to his oracles, and if there be 
truth in them, the world and future ages will accept 
it. It is not Commerce that is King, nor Manufac- 
tures, nor Cotton, nor any single Art or Science, any 
more than those who wear the baubles-crowns. Know- 
ledge is Sovereign, and the Press is the royal seat on 
which she sits, a sceptred Monarch. From this she 
rules public opinion, and finally gives laws alike to 
prince and people — laws framed by men of letters ; 



229 

by tlie wandering bard ; by tlie philosopher in his 
grove or portico, his tower or laboratory; by the pale 
student in his closet. We contemplate with awe the 
mighty movements of the last eighty years, and we 
'held our breath while we gazed upon the heaving hu- 
man mass so lately struggling like huge Leviathan, 
over the broad face of Europe. What has thus stirred 
the world ? The press. The press, which has scat- 
tered far and wide the sparks of genius, kindling as 
they fly. Books, Journals, Pamphlets, these are the 
paixhan balls — moulded often by the obscure and 
humble, but loaded with fiery thoughts — which have 
burst in the sides of every structure, political, so- 
cial and religious, and shattered too often, alike the 
rotten and the sound. For, in kuowledsre as in 
everything else, the two great principles of Good 
and Evil maintain their eternal warfare " O aycov 
avTi Tvavrcov aycovcov''' — a war amid and above all 
other wars. 

But, in the strife of knowledge, unlike other con- 
tests — victory never fails to abide with truth. The 
wise and virtuous who find and use this mighty weap- 
on, are sure of their reward. It may rot come soon. 
Years, ages, centuries may pass away, and the grave- 
stone may have crumbled above the head that should 
have worn the wreath. But to the eye of faith, the 
vision of the imperishable and inevitable halo that 
shall enshrine the memory is forever present, cheer- 
ing and sweetening toil, and compensating for priva- 
tion. And it often happens that the great and heroic 
mind, unnoticed by the world, buried apparently in 
profoundest darkness, sustained by faith, works out 
the grandest problems of human progress — working 
15 



230 



under broad rays of brightest liglit — light furnished 
by that inward and immortal lamp, which, when its 
mission upon earth has closed, is trimmed anew by 
angel's hands, and placed among the stars of heaven, j 



AN OKATION 

ON THE LIFE, CHARACTER AND SERVICES OF JOHN CALDWELL CAL- 
HOUN, DELIVERED ON THE 21sT NOVEMBER, 1850, IK CHARLESTON, S. 
C, AT THE REQUEST OF THE CITY COUNCIL. 

Faith is an iiistluct of the human heart. Its 
strongest, its purest and its noblest instinct — the pa- 
rent of love and of hope. In all ages and every- 
where, mankind have acknowledged, adored, and put 
their trust in the great Creator and Ruler of the Uni- 
verse. And, descending from the invisible and infi- 
nite, to the visible and finite, they have entertained 
the same sentiments, differing only in degree, for those 
of their own species, who have received fi'om heaven 
an extraordinary endowment of intellect and virtue. 
The Ancient Heathen deified them. By the early 
Christians they were enrolled among the Saints. It 
is a shallow and a base philosophy which can see su- 
perstition only, in such customs, and fiiils to recognize 
the workings of a profound veneration for the attri- 
butes of God, as manifested through His favorite Cre- 
ations. A better knowledge of the bounds which 
separate the natural from the supernatural, has taught 
us in our day to limit our homage ; but still it is a 
deep and pure wisdom which counsels us to submit 



232 

ourselves, in no grudging spirit, to the guidance of 
those great Minds that have been appointed to shed 
light and truth upon the world. 

To the honor and praise of South Carolina it may 
be said that she has thus far recognized her prophets, 
and believed their ins23iration. She has aided and 
sustained them in the perfoi-mance of their missions, 
with a warm and steady confidence, and she lias been 
faithful to their memory. Her loyal reverence for 
real greatness has ever been a deep — I might say a 
religious sentiment — untinged with superstition, but 
as profound as it is magnanimous and just. 

For no one of her many noble sons has Providence 
permitted her to evince for so long a period her ad- 
miration, her affection and her confidence ; for no one 
has she herself endured such trials ; no one has she 
ever consigned to his last resting place in her bereaved 
bosom, amid such deep and universal grief, as him 
whose life and services we have assembled this day to 
commemorate. For more than forty years the name 
of Calhoun has never been pronounced in South Car- 
olina without awakening a sensation. For nearly the 
same period it has been equally familiar and fraught 
with as deep an interest to every citizen of this wide- 
spread Union. Few of us here present can remem- 
be the era when we heard it first. We have grown 
up from childhood under its mighty influence, and we 
feel that a spell was broken, a tie of life was sundered 
forever, when it ceased to be a living sound. 

The Man is now no more. He has closed his ca- 
reer with us, to begin another in a better world. But 
what he did, and what he said, while here, still live, 
and will live forever in their consequences — as immor- 



233 

tal as the Spirit which has returned to God. How he 
performed his part on earth it is ours now to consider. 
And di'ying our unavailing tears, and burying, for the 
moment, in the deepest recesses of our bosoms, the 
love and reverence we bore him, it is our duty to ana- 
lyze his life with the strict impartiality of a distant 
posterity; and to bring the thoughts and actions he 
left behind him to the great standard of eternal Truth, 
that we may render complete justice to him, and 
gather for ourselves and our children the full measure 
of the lessons which he tauQ-ht. The livini!: Man 
scorned fidsome adulation ; and his living Spirit, if 
permitted to hover over us now, and to hear our voices 
and perceive the pulsations of our hearts, will accept 
no offering that cannot bear the scrutiny of Time and 
the severest test of Truth. 

Mr. Calhoun was born in the backwoods of South 
Carolina, near the close of the Revolutionary War. 
His early nurture was in the wilderness, and during 
the hei'oic age of the Republic. In youth he imbibed 
but a scant portion of the lore of books, but his con- 
verse with the volume of Nature was unlimited; and 
in the field and forest, by the stream and by the fire- 
side, he was in constant intercourse with those rouirh 
but high-strung men, who had challenged oppression 
at its first step, and were fresh from the battles in 
which they had won their liberties with their swords. 
His father, too, was a wise and strong man. For 
thirty years in the councils of the State, he was as 
familiar with the strifes of politics, as of arms. In his 
rude way he penetrated to fundamentals — discovered 
that the true foundation of government is the welfare 
of the governed ; denounced its excessive action ; and 



234 

opposed the Constitution of the Union because it 
placed the j^ower of hiyiug taxes in the hands of those 
who did not pay them. Amid such men and such 
scenes, thei'e was little opportunity for what is com- 
moul}^ called education for the young Calhoun. But 
it may be doubted whether, having acquired the use 
of letters and figures, and been thus furnished with 
the two gi-eat keys of knowledge, there could have 
been a much better training for the future Statesman. 
Pericles and Alexander were, perhaps, taught but lit- 
tle more ])y Anaxagoras and Aristotle, than Calhoun 
learned from his few books, from nature and such 
men. In this School he learned to think, which is a 
vast achievement. And he was furnished with high 
and noble themes for thought, by those whose partial 
knowledge of facts led them to discuss chiefly essen- 
tial principles, to unfold fundamental truths, and to 
build on them those lofty theories to which the exi- 
gencies of the times gave birth. He was thus taught, 
not only the sum and substance of elementary educa- 
tion, but was imbued with that practical philosophy, 
according to which human affairs are in the main con- 
ducted. It is true that thousands have received the 
same lessons and profited nothing. But we know that 
seed sown by the wayside and among stones and 
thorns, is gathered by the birds or is withered or 
choked up ; and it is only when it falls on good 
ground that it springs up and produces fifty and a 
hundred fold. It is idle to deny the natural diversity 
of human intellects. It w^as due, after all, to the rich 
soil of Calhoun's mind that these noble seeds took 
root, and bore abundantly such precious fruits. 

It was not uutil he had passed his eighteenth year 



235 

that he sei'iously embarked in the pursuit of Scholas- 
tic learning; and the event proved — as possibly it 
would in most cases — that no time had been really 
lost. Perhaps it seldom happens that the bud of the 
mind is sufficiently matui'ed before this age, to expand 
naturally and absorb with benefit the direct rays of 
knowledge, so bright, so piercing and so stimulating. 
The tender petals eagerly opened at too early a pe- 
riod, often wither and die under the overpowering 
light. At eighteen years of age Mi*. Calhoun went to 
the Academy ; at twenty to College ; at twenty-two 
he graduated at Yale ; at twenty-five he was admitted 
to the Bar; at twenty-six he was elected to the Legis- 
lature ; at twenty-eight to Congress. Thus, though 
apparently starting late, he nevertheless arrived at 
the goal far in advance of most of those who reach it. 
But when he went to the Academy he did not dream 
over books, any more than he did afterwards over the 
affairs of life. He had learned already what many 
never learn — to think ; and to think closely — to the 
pui'pose — searching for the 2:)rinciple. Having ac- 
quired this mighty power — for it is a powei-, and the 
greatest of all — when he did start in his careei*, he 
strode onward like a conqueror. Difficulties were 
mere exercises. Valleys rose in his path and moun- 
tains sunk down to a level. First at School ; first at 
Colles^e ; he rose at once to the front rank at the Bar 
and in the Legislature ; and was assigned a most dis- 
tinguished position the moment he took his seat in 
Congress. His course was a stream of light. Men 
of all classes recognized its brilliancy, and hailed him, 
not as a meteor, but as a new star risen in the heavens, 
which had floated without effort into its appointed 



236 

orbit, and promised loDg to shed the brightest and 
most beneficent beams upon the world. 

What, we may properly ask, was the secret of this 
rapid and wonderful success? How was it that this 
young man, coming but a few years before from the 
wilderness, late in youth, without knowledge of books, 
unknown himself, and destitute of powerful friends, 
should, in so short a time, not only win his way into 
the Great Council of the Confederacy, but be at once 
conceded a place among the first, and draw to himself 
the admiration and the hopes of a people ? 

"What should it be tbat thus their faith could bind? 
The power of Thought — the magic of tlieMiud!" 

Mr. Calhoun first took his seat in Congress at the 
commencement of the Session of 1811. From that 
period may be dated his career as a Statesman. That 
career may be properly divided into several epochs, 
each of which is memorable in the history of our 
country, and was made memorable in no small degree 
by the parts which he perform'ed. The first embraces 
his services in the House of Representatives. The 
great question of the Session of 1811-12, was that of 
war with England. All Europe was then, and had 
been for twenty years, in arms, and that mighty con- 
flict which terminated not long after in the overthrow 
of Napoleon, and the establishment of the Holy Alli- 
ance, was at its height. France and England Avere 
the two leadhig belligerents, and both of them, in 
utter disi-egard of neutral rights, had perpetrated unex- 
ampled outrages upon us. We had in vain resorted to 
embargoes and non-importation acts, and at length it 
became indispensably necessary to our maintaining any 



237 

position among nations, that we should declare war 
against one or both of these powers. The direct 
pecuniary interests of the South had been but slightly 
affected by these outrages. She had but little com- 
merce to be plundered — few seamen to be impressed. 
Her only great interest involved — and that she felt in 
every fibre — was the honor of our common country. 
To vindicate that she went for war, and went for it 
almost unanimously. South Carolina took the lead. 
Her illustrious Representatives Lowndes, Cheves, Wil- 
liams and Calhouu, were the leaders of all those im- 
portant Committees, whose province it is to j)ropose 
war, and marshal the resources for carrying it on. 
And nobly and gloriously did they all perform their 
duty. Mr. Calhoun, placed second on the Committee 
of Foreign Relations, soon became its head by the 
retirement of the chairman, and, before the close of 
his first Session, he reported and carried through the 
House, a bill declaring war against Great Britain ; and, 
throughout the momentous conflict, undaunted in 
courage and infinite in resources, he stood forward the 
leading champion of every measure for its vigorous 
prosecution. Young as he was, he shrunk from no 
opponent in that Congress, never before or since 
equalled for its assemblage of talent. He surrendered 
nothing and shunned no responsibility. In the darkest 
and most perilous hour of the war, when Napoleon 
had fallen, and England was free to turn the whole of 
her armament on us ; when the Eastern States, not 
content with denouncing the war through their 2:)resses, 
and from their platforms and their pulpits, had assailed 
in every form the credit of the Government — had 
paralyzed all the financial operations of the country. 



238 

and caused a general suspension of the Southern Banks — 
had given valuable " aid and comfort to the enemy " by 
loans of specie, and were conspiring to withdraw from 
the Confederacy and make peace for themselves — in 
that desponding hour, when all seemed lost, he did 
not falter for an instant. "The great cause" he said 
"will never be yielded — no, never! never! I hear 
the future audibly announced in the past — in the splen- 
did victories over the Guerriere, the Java, and the 
Macedonian. Opinion is power. The charm of British 
naval invincibility is gone," 

Mr. Calhoun's course throughout the war can 
never fail of the admiration and applause of future 
times ; and that war was a turning point in the history 
of the world. It established a competitor with Eng- 
land for the trident of the ocean, whose triumph is 
inevitable. And, just and necessary as it was and 
glorious as its result, it gave rise in the end to ques- 
tions in this country, which no human sagacity could 
have anticipated — whose solution, yet in the womb of 
time, may be of far greater import than the dominion 
of the seas. 

Mr. Calhoun entered Congress as a member of the 
Republican Party, as distinguished from the Federal, 
and throughout his service in the House, acted with it 
in the main. But he gave many and early proofs that 
his was a temperament which could never " give up to 
party what was meant for mankind." Following his 
illustrious Colleague* — who yet survives to our love 
and veneration, with his powerful intellect unimpaired, 
and his devotion to his native soil more ardent and 
self-sacrificing, if possible, than ever — he warmly advo- 

* Hon. Langdon Chever. 



239 

cated a large addition to the navy, at an early ]^eriod 
of warlike preparations, and, ever after, consistently 
and earnestly sustained this most important arm of 
defence and support of the State. The Republican 
Party, under Mr. Jefferson, had, with a narrow policy, 
condemned the navy. But amphibious man never 
attains half his national greatness, until his domain on 
the water equals that upon the land — until the terror 
of his prowess makes his home upon the deep as 
secure as on the mountains, and the products of hig 
industry float undisturbed on every tide. 

At this early period, also, Mr. Calhoun took his 
stand against the Restrictive System, which had been 
so great a favorite with Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Madi- 
son, as a substitute for war. He denounced it as 
unsound in policy, and wholly unsuited to the genius 
of our people ; and he opposed it vigorously, until it 
fell beneath his blows. But it may well be questioned, 
whether, at that time, his opposition w^as at all en- 
lightened by those great principles of Free Trade, 
then so little known, which it was the glory of his 
later life to develop and sustain under such trying 
circumstances. He then opposed the Restrictiv^e Sys- 
tem as a war measure, and demonstrated that it was 
not only inefficient, but injurious. Neither then, nor 
when the import duties were re-adjusted at the close 
of the war, did he appear to have perceived the 
dangers which lurked under the protection which this 
system gave to manufacturers, nor those which fol- 
lowed such protection when specifically given by the 
direct action of the Government. For, in the debate 
in IS 14, while Mr. Webster, now the great champion 
of protection, declared " he was an enemy to rearing 



240 

manufactures, or any other interest in a hot bed, and 
never wished to see a Sheffield or a Birmingham in 
this country," Mr. Calhoun said, " as to the manufac- 
turing interest, in regard to which some fear has been 
expressed, the resolution, voted by the House yester- 
day, was a strong pledge that it would not suifer 
manufactures to be unprotected in case of a repeal 
of the Restrictive System. He hoped that, at all 
times, and under every policy, they would be pro- 
tected with due care." And, again in 1816, he advo- 
cated, without any note or caution, the bill introduced by 
another distinguished Carolinian,* long since snatched 
from us by a premature death, but whose genius and 
virtues — whose lofty character and inestimable services 
can never be forgotten — a bill which distinctly recog- 
nized the protective principle, and introduced perhaps 
its most oppressive feature. The truth is, that at that 
day, political economy was in its infancy. Free Trade 
was most commonly understood to mean merely the 
freedom of the seas. The most sasracious intellects 
of our country — Mr. Webster perhaps excepted — had, 
apparently no apprehensions of the evils of the false 
theory of protection as applied to us ; and that abom- 
inable system, since called " the American," it had 
entered into no man's imagination to conceive. Mr. 
Calhoun, at a later period, so far in advance of his 
age, was, at that epoch, the embodiment of the spirit 
of the times, and among its most able and effective 
expounders. 

At the crisis of the war, when the credit of the 
Government was prostrate, an United States Bank was 
proposed by the administration, and supported by the 
* Hon. William Lowndes. 



241 

Republican Party. This Mr. Calhoun opposed and 
defeated ; though in a modified form, it would finally 
have passed the House, but for the casting vote of Mr. 
Cheves. It was, hoAvever, on account of the extraor- 
dinary character of the proposed Bank, that Mr. Cal- 
houn resisted it, and not apparently from any doubt 
of the policy or constitutionality of a Bank chartered 
by Congress. In fact, he had himself previously pro- 
posed a Bank to be established in the District of Co- 
lumbia, with the express view of getting rid of cer- 
tain constitutional scruples felt by others; and he was 
the responsible author of the Bank of 1816, whose 
powerful efforts to prolong its own existence, so fiercely 
agitated the whole Union twenty years later, and ended 
in consequences so disastrous not only to its own stock- 
holders, but to the country. From Mr. Calhoun's sub- 
sequent declarations, it is certain that, in his maturer 
years, he regarded the whole Banking system, as at 
present organized, as a stupendous evil; and he emphat- 
ically declared, that its power, "if not diminished, 
must terminate in its own destruction, or an entire revo- 
lution in our social and political system." And that 
of all Banks, he regarded a mere Government Bank as 
the most dangerous, may be safely inferred from the 
fact, that neither the ties of i>arty, nor the entreaties 
of the administration, nor the exigencies of the most 
critical period of the war, could prevent him from 
vigorously opposing such an Institution, though not 
then hostile to an United States Bank. He advocated 
the Bank of 1816, as indispensably necessary for the 
restoration of the currency, and, to the last, he believed 
that no other expedient could have effected that great 
object. He avoided the constitutional question, by 



242 

assuming tliat so long as tlie Government received 
Bank notes at all as money, it was bonnd to " regulate 
their value," and for that purpose a Bank was " ne<je3- 
sary and proper." He said, however, even then, that 
" as a question de novo, he would be decidedly against 
a Bank;" and when in 1837, he thought it could be 
done with safety, he took an active and efficient part 
in excluding all Bank notes from the Treasury of the 
United States. 

During the Session of 1816, arose another of those 
great questions, which may be said to have had their 
origin in the war, and which have since so divided and 
agitated our country. Mr. Jefferson had recognized 
the power of Congress to appropriate money for Inter- 
nal Improvements in the case of the Cumberland Road, 
and, in 1808, Mr. Gallatin, his Secretary of war, had 
made a report, recommending a stupendous system. 
It was not until after the war, the expenses of which 
had been enormously increased by the cost of trans- 
portation, that the subject attracted the serious atten- 
tion of the whole country. Mr. Calhoun brought 
forward and carried, in 1816, a bill appropriating the 
bonus and dividends of the United Stiites Bank to 
Internal Improvements. This bill was vetoed as un- 
constitutional by Mr. Madison, to the surprise of all, 
and most especially of its author, who believed he was 
carrying out the views entertained by Madison, and 
suggested in his annual Message. In 1818, Mr. Cal- 
houn, as Secretary of War, made a Report on Roads 
and Canals, embracino; views and recommendino: meas- 
ures fully as extensive as those of Mr. Gallatin. On 
none of these occasions did he express his opinion as 
to the constitutional power of the Federal Govern- 



243 

merit to carry on Internal Improvements. But, if Lis 
opinions may be inferred from those of liis most intim- 
ate and confidential friends — from the celebrated 
Message of Mr. Monroe in 1823, and the equally 
celebrated speech of Mr. McDuffie shortly after — it 
must be conceded that, at that time, he believed the 
power of the Government to lay taxes, and appropri- 
ate the proceeds, was limited only by the injunction 
that they should be applied to the " common defence 
and general welfare." This doctrine, in every way so 
fatal in our political system, has since receiv^ed its 
severest blows from his hands; and, in 1838, he 
declared that one of the most essential steps to be 
taken, in order to restore our Government to its original 
purity — then the great and sole object of his political 
life — was to "put a final stop to Internal Improve- 
ments by Congress." 

With the Session of 1816-17 closed Mr. Calhoun's 
services in the House of Representatives. Here also 
terminated an epoch in his career as a Statesman. He 
had more than fulfilled the high expectations enter- 
tained of him when he entered Congress. His re2:)u- 
tation for talent had increased with every intellectual 
effort he had made. And his ability — now universally 
admitted to be of the very highest order — his well- 
tried patriotism, his unflinching moral courage, the 
loftiness and liberality of all his views and sentiments, 
and the immaculate purity of his life, gave him a 
position in the public councils and in the opinion of 
the country, second to no one of that illustrious band 
whom the greatest crisis in affairs since the revolution 
— "the second war of Independence" — had brought 
upon the stage. 



244 

In reviewing Mr. Calhoun's political course up to 
this period, if, with the sternness of the historian, we 
brush aside the splendid halo that surrounds it, and 
call to our aid the subsequent experience of a third of 
a century of rapid progress — above all, if we examine 
it by the effulgent light which he, himself, more than 
all other men, has since shed upon the Federal Con- 
stitution, and judge it by those rigid and severe tests 
which he has taught us, we cannot fail to perceive that 
brilliant, useful, and glorious, as it was, to his country 
and himself, his views, in many most important par- 
ticulars, were essentially erroneous ; and that he as- 
sisted powerfully in giving currency to opinions, and 
building up systems, that have proved seriously in- 
jurious to the South, and probably to the stability of 
the existing Union. These I have not hesitated to 
point out. It was due to truth, to history, and to him. 

It has been customary to apologize for these errors, 
by saying that they were the errors of youth. But 
Mr. Calhoun had no youth, to our knowledge. He 
sprung into the arena like Minerva from the head of 
Jove, fully grown and clothed in armor : a man every 
inch himself, and able to contend with any other man. 
A severe moralist would point to them as conspicuous 
proofs of the fallibility of our nature, since the deep- 
est devotion both to the Union and his native section, 
and the most perfect purity of purpose, combined with 
the subtlest intellectual acumen and the profoundest 
generalization, could not save him from them. There 
may be much truth and wisdom in this view. But 
there are reasons why Mr. Calhoun should have fallen 
at that time into the opinions that he held, which, 
properly considered, would remove every shadow of 



245 

suspicion from his motives, if any has ever been 
seriously entertained, and almost wholly excuse the 
most sagacious of men who laid no claim to inspira- 
tion. 

Although there were, from the commencement of 
the Government, two parties, one of whom contended 
for a strict and the other for a latitudinarian construc- 
tion of the Constitution, a review of the practical 
questions which arose between them would show that 
few or none of them were of a sectional bearing. The 
Alien and Sedition Laws, which produced the greatest 
excitement of any internal question, had no such 
tendency. The Funding of the Domestic Debt might 
have been so accidentally ; but no question, necessarily 
and permanently sectional, attracted serious notice until 
after the second war. In fact, under the administra- 
tions of the earlier Presidents, all those sectional 
jealousies which had displayed themselves so con- 
spicuously during the Confederation, and which are 
so prominent in the debates of the Convention that 
framed the Constitution, had been lulled to sleep, and 
a large proportion of the ablest Southern men were 
Federalists. The great questions which did agitate 
the country, on which elections turned, and parties 
really, though not altogether nominally, divided off, 
were external, not internal questions. Our Colo- 
nial habits still predominated, and we looked abroad 
for our dangers, for our enemies and our friends. 
English, French and Spanish negotiations: Jay's 
Treaty : the squabble with the Du'ectory : the acqui- 
sition of Louisiana : the terrible wars of Europe : 
the aggressions on our neutral rights : and finally the 
embargo, non-importation, non-intercourse laws, and 
16 



246 

war with England : — these were the great and deeply 
interesting subjects which absorbed men's minds and 
colored all their political opinions. The Constitution 
was overlooked and violated by both parties ; and I 
believe it may be said that on no question of a con- 
stitutional character were party lines stringently drawn, 
after the election of Mr. Jefferson. Mr. Monroe de- 
clared, on his accession, that we were " all Federalists 
— all Republicans." 

It was under these circumstances, and at a period 
when, above all others, an ardent and patriotic mind 
would be least disposed to contemplate sectional inter- 
ests, or stickle about constitutional scruples, that Mr. 
Calhoun entered Congress. It was then, indeed, the 
imperative duty of the patriot to discard all mere sec- 
tional considerations ; and, perhaps, to give the most 
liberal construction to the Constitution, to enable the 
ship of State to meet and ride out the storms which 
threatened to engulph it. The difficulties were im- 
mense. Mr. Calhoun, placed at once in a high and 
responsible position, and taking, as was said at the 
time, " the war upon his shoulders," was absorbed 
during his first three sessions, in devising measures to 
meet its pressing exigencies; and, during the last 
three, in endeavoring to dissipate its injurious effects 
upon the currency, commerce and industry of the 
country. And, considering the history of the past : 
the conduct of parties on internal constitutional ques- 
tions : the habitual disregard of strict construction by 
the Republican leaders : the acquiescence of older and 
very able men of all sections in the constitutionality 
of the Bank, the Tariff and Internal Improvements, it 
is not at all to be wondered at, nor to be severely con- 



247 

demned, that in the universal confusion, and the burn- 
ing glow of his broad patriotism, so ftinned by current 
events, he should fail to look at the sectional bearing 
of propositions, or even of constitutional constructions. 
No man — not one in our wide confederacy — North or 
South — foresaw what was coming out of the convul- 
sions of the war, and the measures adopted to ease 
down the country to a state of peace, and prepare her 
for a prosperous career, under circumstances so greatly 
different as were those of 1815-17 from any she had 
yet encountered. Carpiugs and croakings there were, 
of course, and prophecies of evil in abundance. But 
the results baffled all predictions : or at least verified 
so little of what any had foretold, as to place the 
wisest seer on no higher tripod than that of a lucky 
fortune-teller. Mr. Calhoun never croaked or carped. 
And if he erred in straying from the narrow, but only 
true path of rigid constitutional construction, he may 
well be forgiven for following precedents that were 
almost consecrated — the examples of nearly all with 
whom he acted — and the impulses of a generous, con- 
fiding, and wide-extended love of country. 

Soon after Mr. Monroe's accession to the Presidency, 
Mr. Calhoun received the appointment of Secretary 
of War, and took his seat in the Cabinet in December, 
1817, where he remained until March, 1825. This 
period embraced the second epoch of his career. The 
future biographer will find in it much that will be 
interesting to relate, but, on an occasion like this, it 
may be passed over without any minute examination. 
From the commencement of the war it had been 
discovered that the internal organization of the War 
Department was so defective, that it was impossible to 



248 

conduct its affairs with due efficiency. It was in vain 
that three different Secretaries were in succession at 
its head during the war, and a fourth appointed at its 
close. When Mr. Calhoun took charge of it, nearly 
three years after, he found unsettled accounts to the 
amount of forty millions, and the greatest confusion in 
every branch. In a remarkably short period he in- 
troduced a perfect organization, in which all the details 
were so thoroughly and judiciously systematized, that 
no material changes have been made to this day. He 
reduced the unsettled accounts to a few millions, which 
were not susceptible of liquidation, and, against inces- 
sant and powerful opposition, curtailed the discre- 
tionary expenses nearly one half, while, at the same 
time, the efficiency of the army was greatly increased, 
and his own popularity in it grew with every reform, 
and to the last day of his administration. 

Many of Mr. Calhoun's best friends had advised 
him not to accept this appointment. They knew 
the apparently insuperable difficulties of reorganizing 
that Department, which had baffled so many able men. 
They thought that his mind was of a cast too abstract 
and metaphysical to cope with the practical details of 
the Military System, and were apprehensive lest his 
brilliant reputation might be clouded. They did not 
remember that if real genius is not universal, both war 
and politics are but the concretes of Philosophy — that, 
in ancient times, these pursuits were almost invariably 
united ; that the greatest of metaphysicians was the 
founder of the science of Politics, and trained the 
greatest warrior of antiquity ; that Bacon presided in 
the House of Lords ; that Carnot " organized victory ; " 
that, in short, though politicians and soldiers may 



249 

spring up every day, and strut their hour upon the 
staire, no one can be a statesman or a s^enei-al who has 
not analyzed the structure of the human mind, and 
learned to touch the remotest springs of human action. 

High as Mr. Calhoun's legislative talent had been 
rated, he had not been long in the War Department 
before his administrative talent was regarded as quite 
equal, if not superior ; and he rose so rapidly in the 
estimation of his countrymen, that, early in Mr. Mon- 
roe's second term, when he was only forty years of 
age, and had been but little more than ten years in the 
Federal Councils, he was nominated for the Presidency 
by the large and influential State of Pennsylvania. 
He subsequently consented to have his name with- 
drawn in favor of Gen. Jackson. He w^as then nomi- 
nated for the Vice-Presidency — was elected by a large 
majority, and took his seat as President of the Senate 
in 1825. 

In regard to his direct connection with that body 
as its presiding officer, it is, perhaps, sufficient to say that 
on all occasions he fully sustained his reputation. No 
incident of lasting importance occurred to elicit any 
extraordinary display of peculiar qualities of mind or 
temperament, until near the close of his first term. 
But the period of that term constitutes a most im 
portant era in the annals of our country, and also in 
the life of Mr. Calhoun. And hence may be dated the 
third and last epoch in his career. 

I have already adverted to the fact, that the Re- 
publican party had long strayed from the straight and 
narrow path of constitutional construction in which it 
first set out. The events of the w^ar had so utterly 
prostrated and disgraced the Federal Party, that at 



250 

its close, that party was dissolved, and the very name 
of Federalist almost universally repudiated. The check 
of opposition removed, the Republican party — ^with 
but few exceptions — fell headlong into the very slough 
in which their adversaries had foundered. They had 
everything in their own hands, and "feeling jDower 
they forgot right." A new party in the mean time 
grew up, which afterwards assumed the name of 
" National Republican," and more recently of " Whig," 
absorbing most of the old Federalists, and a portion 
of the old Republicans. Of this party was Mr. Adams 
— a converted Federalist — who was elected President 
in 1824, by the House of Representatives, through the 
instrumentality of Mr. Clay, who became his Secretary 
of State. The manner of Mr. Adams' election ; the 
extreme Federal doctrines of his first Message ; and, 
above all, perhaps, the exigencies of 02:)position, 
awakened the genuine Republicans to some conscious- 
ness of their great and long cherished errors. They 
united on General Jackson as their candidate for the 
Presidency. Their manifestoes breathed the true 
spirit of the Republicanism of '98 ; and the Constitution 
became ajjpareutly the favoi'ite study of those who 
had come into public life subsequently to that period. 
Mr. Calhoun, it is said, avowed that, until this time, 
he had never fully analyzed and understood the Con- 
stitution. This may be readily believed, without re- 
ferring to the instances already mentioned, in which 
he had departed from it. He had always been, up to 
that period, in the majority. Majorities do not rely 
on Constitutions. Their reliance is on numbers and 
the strong arm. It is not to be expected of them 
lo study, and it seems to be almost impossible for them 



251 

to comprehend Constitution?, the express purpose of 
which is to limit their power, and hedge in their pri\d- 
leges. It is minorities who look closely into Con:jtitu- 
tions, for they are their shield and tov\'er of safety. 
Mr. Calhoun had, doubtless, read the Constitution 
attentively, and mastered its general principles. But 
there were parts he had not scrutinized, and a deep 
and vital spirit running through the whole, which he 
had never yet imbibed, nor had any of the younger 
men up to that period. In foct, a new kind of con- 
stitutional questions now arose — or rather the progress 
of events had developed new and deeply important 
bearings in old questions. It now became manifest, 
for the first time since the Constitution had gone into 
operation, that it might be so construed as to oppress 
and ruin one section, for the benefit of another. And 
it was also clearly seen that the South was the doomed 
section, and that the chief instrument of destruction 
was a Protective Tarii£ 

It was well known that Mr. Hamilton, as early as 
1791, had with great power advocated the protection 
of manufactures, and that duties had been imposed 
with that view ; but they were so extremely moderate 
as to be of little benefit to that interest, and caused no 
alarm in others. The duties had been increased under 
every subsequent administration, for the sake of rev- 
enue, and had been doubled during the war. When, 
in 1816, it became necessary to reduce the war duties, 
the question arose to what extent they were to be 
retained for the protection of manufactures, and some 
of them were adjusted, for that purpose, at a high 
comparative rate, as I have already stated. These 
duties were increased in 1820; and. in 1824. the 



252 

manufacturers again came forward witli exorbitant 
demands, wLicli were acceded to. Then, for tlie first 
time in thirty years, and by but a few voices, the con- 
stitutional power to protect manufactures was ques- 
tioned in Cono-ress. It was now obvious that the 
protected interest had " an appetite which grew from 
what it fed on ; " and that, in this country, in every 
period of about four years, for reasons which it is 
unnecessary to dwell on here, it required new and 
enormous impositions. 

Mr. Adams had warmly recommended the Protec- 
tive Tariff, and Mr. Clay, giving it the ad captandmn 
title of the " American System," claimed to be its first 
champion, and made it the leading question in the 
Presidential canvass, from 1825 to 1829. The South 
had opposed it with great vigor and much unanimity 
in 1824 ; because, on the principle of communism, it 
taxed the agricultural interest to support the manufac- 
turing; and, inasmuch as we furnished two-thirds of 
the exports that paid for the imports on which the 
duties were levied, it was fully believed, and pretty 
clearly demonstrated, that our least joopulous section 
paid nearly two-thirds of the revenue of the Govern- 
ment, besides paying the manufacturers an enhanced 
price on the protected articles we consumed. Some of 
the Eastern States opposed it also, because it injured 
commerce and navigation, but they ultimately came in 
to its support. The Western and Middle States were 
decidedly for it. To secure their support, and yet 
retain that of the South, General Jackson gave the 
equivocal pledge that he would sustain a " Judicious 
Tariff," which in the South was construed to mean a 



253 

constitutional Revenue Tariff; and elsewhere, to mean 
a Protective Tariff. 

In 1828, at the end of four years, as was usual, a 
new tariff bill was brought forward in Congress. It 
was blotclied and bloated with the corrupt bids of a 
majority of the Jackson party, itself, for manufacturers' 
votes, to be paid in gold wrung from the already over- 
burdened South. And so extravagant were these bids 
that the protective interests hesitated to accept a bribe 
so monstrous, lest they should over-shoot the mark and 
fall under public odium. It was thought, at one time, 
that the vote in the Senate would be a tie, and the 
fate of the bill would depend on the casting vote of 
the presiding officer. Mr. Calhoun was then Vice- 
President, and a candidate for reelection on the same 
ticket with Gen. Jackson, whose success depended en- 
tirely on the support of Mr. Calhoun's friends. It was 
confidently believed that, save Gen. Jackson, there was 
no one so popular throughout the Union as Mr. Cal- 
houn ; and his accession to the Presidency, on the 
retirement of Gen. Jackson, was considered almost 
certain. It was known that he was opposed to this 
bill, and he was now appealed to as the supporter of 
Gen. Jackson, and candidate of the Republican Party 
for the Vice-Presidency, and out of regard to his own 
future prospects, not to give his casting vote against it, 
but to leave the chair, as was not at all unusual, and 
allow the bill to take the chances of the Senate. Mr. 
Calhoun knew the full import of his reply to this 
appeal. If he not only refused to pledge himself to a 
" Judicious Tariff," but openly and unequivocally took 
his stand against the v/hole protective system, now 
overwhelmingly popular, he surrendered, in all human 



254 

probability, every prospect of tlie Presidency, and 
must pass tlie remainder of liis life in combating in a 
small and almost hopeless minority, not for power, not 
for glory, but for justice, and, in a measure, for the 
existence of the Soutb. He was thus, in a critical 
moment, called on to make at once and forev^er, a 
decision which was to shape his destiny, and perhaps 
the destiny of a whole people. He did not hesitate. 
He had now mastered the Constitution ; he also now 
saw clearly the fatal tendency of the prominent 
measures brought forward at the close of the war ; 
and castiuii" behind him all the o^lorious labors of the 
past, and all the brilliant prospects of the future — 
holding in one hand the Constitution, and in the other 
truth, justice, and the violated rights of his native 
land, he took his post with his little band, waged in 
the breach a truceless war of two and twenty years, 
and perished there. 

Neither ancient nor modern annals furnish a noisier 
example of heroic sacrifice of self. Peel yielded to 
popular demands, and exchanged party for public grat- 
itude and influence. Burke gave up friends, but 
power smiled upon him. Self-banished Aristides 
already had satiated his ambition. Cato and Brutus 
perished in the shock. But, in the early prime of life, 
midway his yet unchecked career — with the greatest 
of ambition's prizes but one bound ahead, Mr. Calhoun 
stopped and turned aside, to lift from the dust the 
Constitution of his country, tramjiled, soiled and rent ; 
and bearing it aloft, consecrated himself, his life, his 
talents, and his hopes, to the arduous, but sacred task 
of handing it down to other ages as pure as it was 
when received from the Fathers of the Eevolution. 



255 

Glorious and not bootless struggle. The Constitution 
has not been purified. It never will be ; but its 
principles have been made immortal, and will survive 
and flourish, though it shall, itself, be torn to atoms 
and given to the winds. 

The magnitude of Mr. Calhoun's sacrifice may be 
more readily appreciated than the diflaculties of his 
undertaking. The diseases of the body politic had not 
only become deeply seated, but were complicated and 
peculiar. At the bottom was the now established 
doctrine that the majority had the unquestionable and 
the indefeasible right to place its own construction on 
the Constitution. On this arose not only the Tarifi^, 
but the Internal Improvement System, which had 
completely trium])hed. Immense sums, the proceeds 
of high duties, were annually appropriated for the 
benefit of the Tarift" States ; while the United States 
Bank, by its control over the government funds, con- 
centrated the exchanges at the North, and made the 
protected section the heart of the financial system of 
the Union. Thus was formed a combination of sec- 
tional interests, sustained by a sectional majority under 
a corrupted Constitution, all bearing with fatal and 
relentless aim on the devoted South, while behind 
them another question, purely sectional, and having 
nearly the same geographical lines, was easily to be 
discerned, rearing its monstrous crest, and portending 
dangers in comparison with which all others sunk to 
insignificance. Among a homogeneous people, majori- 
ties and minorities frequently change places. Indeed, 
it is natural, and, where discussion and free action are 
allowed, it is inevitable that they should. But, where 
they are sectional, even more than where they are 



256 

founded on classes, vital and antagonistic interests 
make the change a Revolution, such as rarely happens 
without bloodshed. A sectional majority remote, 
arrogant, and fatally bent on maintaining its suprem- 
acy and promoting its peculiar interests, never 
listens to warning or to reason ; and the minority, if 
it has not the courage or the strength to tender an 
issue of force, is soon corrupted, divided, and neces- 
sarily enslaved. Mr. Calhoun could not have failed 
to perceive all these difficulties, and in abandoning, 
under such circumstances, his high position in the 
majority, to unite his fortunes irrevocably with the 
weaker section, he exhibited an example, almost with- 
out parallel, of disinterested patriotism and lion-hearted 
courage, and of that " unshaken confidence in the 
Providence of God," which, in his latest moments, he 
declared to be his consolation and support. 

Henceforth he is no lousier to be viewed as the fa- 
vorite child of genius and of fortune. His path is no 
longer strewed with garlands and his footsteps greeted 
with applause. Toiling in the deepest anxiety, yet, 
happily for himself, with the unfailing hopefulness of 
his nature, to accomplish his Herculean task, he en- 
counters at every step the deadliest hostility. He is 
assailed on all sides and from every section — even from 
his own. Envy and malice shoot their long poisoned 
arrows, and ignorance and corruption shower every 
missile on him ; and yet it remains to be decided, and 
depends in no small degree upon the issue of the great 
struggle now ai)proaching its crisis, whether he shall 
go down to posterity portrayed in the colors of the 
Gracchi of the Patricians, or the Gracchi of the People. 

The Tariff Bill of 1828 passed the Senate by a ma- 



257 

jority of one vote, and became a law. So exorbitant 
were its exactions, that out of an import of $64,000,000 
it carried $32,000,000 into the Treasury. Mr. Cal- 
houn, who had announced his intention to vote against 
it, was loud in his denunciations of it and of the protec- 
tive system ; and at the next succeeding Session of our 
State Legislature, an exposition was presented by the 
Committee of Federal Relations, drawn up by him, 
in which the whole subject was elaborately discussed. 
It was then that he suggested as the ultimate remedy, 
a resort to the State Veto — 'Or d unification, as it is 
commonly called. It was not, however, Mr. Calhoun's 
opinion that the remedy should be immediately ap- 
plied. It was certain that Gen. Jackson and himself 
would be elected President and Vice-President in a 
few months, for, as yet, war had not been openly de- 
clared against him — his support being essential to the 
success of the Jackson party. He thought it prudent 
to await a full explanation of Gen. Jackson's " Judi- 
cious Tariff;" and was not without hope that, through 
his influence, the protective system might be broken 
down. Besides, the period was near at hand when the 
Public Debt would be discharged, and no shadow of 
reason would remain for imj^osing high duties for rev- 
enue purposes. But the first Message of Gen. Jackson 
removed every doubt as to his policy, and showed 
clearly that he meant to sustain the Tariff interest. 
He also produced a breach between himself and Mr. 
Calhoun as soon as the prominent Executive appoint- 
ments were confirmed, by revi^dng an old controversy 
supposed to have been settled many years before. It 
was evident that Mr. Calhoun had been doomed from 
the moment he had definitely taken ground against the 



258 

Protective System, and war was now made upon him 
without disguise. 

Gen. Jackson did indeed denounce the Bank ; and, 
early in his first term, he vetoed the Maysville Bill, 
and proposed a limit to appropriations for Internal Im- 
provements — a limit, however, that was uncertain and 
discretionary with the President, and soon abandoned 
by himself. At the same time, he suggested a mon- 
strous scheme for the permanent distribution among 
the States of the surplus revenue arising from the im- 
posts ; thus clearly showing that he would uphold Pro- 
tection, even after the payment of the Public Debt, 
and per2:)etuate the system forever by corrupting the 
States. 

Seeing, then, that there was no hope of any change 
in the action of the Federal Government, in regard to 
the Tariff, and its most objectionable cognate measures, 
the question as to what remedy a State could apply 
was seriously agitated in South Carolina. Mr. Calhoun 
proposed Nullification, and a considerable majority de- 
clared for it almost at once. But it required a vote of 
two-thirds in the Legislature to call a convention to 
enact a Nullifying ordinance. A warm and even bit- 
ter contest on this question was waged among the peo- 
ple of this State, until the October election in 1832, 
when the requisite majority was obtained. Gov. Ham- 
ilton immediately summoned the Legislature to as- 
semble — a Convention was called, and in November of 
that year, all the Acts of Congress imposing duties, and 
especially the Acts of 1828 and 1832, were nullified 
and declared void and of no effect in the State of South 
Carolina. The Tariff Act of 1 832 was named, because, 
as was customary every four years, the duties had 



259 

been revised that year, and shortly before. 1 hey had 
been revised with special reference to the payment of 
the Public Debt, which was then virtually accomplish- 
ed. The odious scheme of permanantly distributing 
the surplus revenue had not been carried, though there 
was every prospect that it would be ultimatel}^ ; but 
while the amount of revenue, and average of duties 
were very slightly reduced, by a large increase of the 
free list — comprising articles most useful to the manu- 
facturers — their particular interest was, in fact, much 
advanced, and the Tariff rendered more unequal and 
more oppressive than by the Act of 1828. Yet it was 
announced, authoritatively, that this was a final and 
permanent adjustment of the protective system, and 
that the South could never expect any amelioration 
of it. 

Mr. Calhoun was still Vice-President of the United 
States, but Gen. Hayne having been recalled from the 
Senate and placed in the Executive Chair at this crisis, 
Mr. Calhoun was chosen in December to fill his place. 
Resigning his oflice, he took his seat in the Senate. 
Gen. Jackson had, immediately after the j)assage of the 
Ordinance, issued his famous proclamation, denouncing 
the proceedings of South Carolina as treasonable, nul- 
lification as unconstitutional and revolutionary, and 
even denying, for the first time, I believe, in the his- 
tory of the country, the right of a State to secede. 
In fact, his doctrines went the full lens^th of nes^ativ- 
ing all State Rights, and consolidating despotic power 
in the hands of the Federal Government. And this 
was followed by a message to Congress, demanding to 
be clothed with almost unlimited power to carry his 
views into effect by force of arms. The crisis was peril- 



260 

lous. We were, apparently, on the verge of civil war, 
for Soutli Carolina, on tliese hostile demonstrations, flew 
to arms. It was expected generally that Mr. Calhoun 
and most of the South Carolina Delegation would be 
arrested at Washington. But this was not done. A 
debate, however, arose in the Senate on the Bill em- 
bracino- the recommendations of the President — com- 
monly called the Force Bill — •which will go down to 
future times, and live, an imperishable monument of 
the patriotism and courage, the wisdom and foresight, 
the genius and eloquence of Mr. Calhoun. His speech 
is not surpassed by any recorded in modern or in an- 
cient times, not even by that of the great Athenian on 
the Crown. 

This debate can never be read without its being 
seen, and felt, that Mr. Webster, his only opponent 
worthy to be named, gifted, as he is universally ac- 
knowledged to be, with talents of the highest ordei*, 
and remarkable even more for his power of i-easoning 
than for his brilliant declamation, was, on this memo- 
rable occasion, a dwarf in a giant's grasp. He was 
prostrated on every ground that he assumed. And if 
logic, building on undoubted facts, can demonstrate 
any moral proposition, then Mr. Calhoun made as clear 
as mathemathical solution, his theory of our Govern- 
ment and the right of each State to judge of infrac- 
tions of the Constitution, and to determine the mode 
and measure of redress When the dust of asres shall 
have covered alike the men, the passions, and the 
interests of that day, this speech of Mr. Calhoun will 
remain to posterity, not merely a triumphant vindica- 
tion of the State of South Carolina, but a tower-li^^ht 
to shed the brightest, purest, and truest rays upon the 



261 

path of every Confederacy of Free States that sliall 
arise upon tlie earth. 

It is not probable that State Interposition will ever 
again be resorted to while this Union continues. More 
decisive measures will be preferred. But if the Fed- 
eral Government was created by a Constitutional com- 
pact between Sovereign States, binding between those 
only that ratified it in Conventions : if only certain 
enumerated or defined powers were entrusted to it in 
its various departments, and all powers not granted to 
it, explicitly reserved to the States entering into the 
compact: and if that compact appointed no special 
tribunal to decide when the Government thus created 
transcended the powers granted to it, and trenched on 
those reserved by the States, it follows irresistibly that 
the States themselves must decide such questions : for 
if the Federal Government, by any or all of its Depart- 
ments, assumes as an exclusive right this transcendant 
power, then is that Government sovereign over those 
by whom it was created — the Conventions of the peo- 
ple of the States ; the limits to its powers, supj^osed 
to have been fixed in the most sacred and bindins: 
form, were only suggestions addressed to its discretion, 
and the whole mass of rights supposed to have been 
reversed absolutely to the States, have no existence 
save from its grace and will. If, however, the States 
have by virtue of their Sovereignty — and if it be 
historically true that at the time of the compact, each 
State was separately sovereign and remains so still — 
then if each State having the right to judge, in Con- 
vention, of infraction of the Constitution, it follows, 
with equal certainty, that each State must determine 
for itself the mode and measure of resistance to be 
17 



262 

applied to such infraction, or tlie right itself is a 
nullity. Two modes only of resistance are to be found. 
The one, to withdraw altogether from the violated 
compact ; the other to nullify the unconstitutional act 
and compel the Federal Government to repeal it, or 
obtain a new grant of power from another Convention 
of the States. The Federal Government, or two-thirds 
of the States, may call a Convention for that purpose. 
A single State cannot. It must, therefore, surrender, 
not only its reserved rights, but its entire Sovereignty, 
or, resist if need be, singly and independently, as 
South Carolina did. 

In recommending Nullification to the State of 
South Carolina in preference to Secession, which, at 
that time, it was almost universally agreed that a State 
had a clear right to resort to, Mr. Calhoun was mainly 
influenced by that deep, long cherished, and I might 
almost say superstitious attachment to the Union, 
which marked every act of his career from its com- 
mencement to its very close. For if there is one fea- 
ture most prominent in Nullification as a remedial 
measure, it is that it is conservative of the Union — 
of that Constitutional Union, which is the only Union 
a patriot can desire to preserve. It was also recom- 
mended by the authority of the leaders and founders 
of the great Republican Party, Mr. Jefferson and Mr. 
Madison, who had proposed this identical measure to 
Virginia and Kentucky in the memorable crisis of lYOS. 

The Force Bill was passed, but was immediately 
nullified by South Carolina, and remains a dead letter 
in our State. In the mean time, however, both the 
Administration and Opposition in Congress, had be- 
come alarmed, and introduced bills for reducing the 



263 

Tariff, notwithstanding the loud declar? ion of finality 
l3y both, at the j^receding Session. Ultimately, the 
famous Compromise Bill was proposed by Mr. Clay, 
the great leader of the Protectionists, and was ac- 
cepted by Mr. Calhoun and his colleagues from South 
Carolina. It became a law and settled this 2:)erilous 
controversy. By this act, in consideration of nine 
years being allowed for a gradual reduction of the 
duties, the principle of Protection was forever sur- 
rendered, and it was provided that, at the end of that 
period, no more revenue should ever be collected than 
was necessary for the wants of an economical Gov- 
ernment. 

No pains have been spared by the majority to 
detract from the merit of the signal triumph achieved 
by South Carolina and Mr. Calhoun in his arduous 
and memorable contest. More, undoubtedly, might 
have been gained. The term of the reduction was a 
long one : the final enforcement of the Compromise 
was not, as was afterwards joroven, sufficiently secured : 
and the Force Bill was passed — a monument of the 
subserviency and degradation of an American Con- 
gress. The triumph might have been more complete ; 
but, shared with many, far less glorious, had South 
Carolina been sustained by her sister States of the 
South. Most of these had denounced the Protective 
System as unconstitutional and oppressive, and pledged 
themselves to resist it with as much show of indigna- 
tion as South Carolina. But when the hour of actual 
conflict came, they shrunk from her side, and repudi 
ated the remedy. She took her station in the breach 
alone, and, single-handed, won a victory whose renown 
can never fade, when she extorted from an over 



264 

whelming and arrogant majority — in the teeth of de- 
clarations but a few months old — a full surrender of a 
formal and peculiarly solemn act of Congress. 

Mr. Calhoun had now wholly devoted himself to 
the reformation of the Federal Government, and its 
first great step accomplished — although the struggle 
had so completely isolated him, that, out of the South 
Carolina delegation, he had scarcely a supporter in 
either House of Congress — he moved onward in his 
course, unbent and undismayed. His personal fortunes 
were apparently forever shipwrecked, 

"But he beat tlie surges under him, 



And rode upon their backs." 

His broad vision swept the whole circle of the politi- 
cal system, and he noted every plague-spot of corrup- 
tion on it. He made a powerful attack on Executive 
patronage in a Report to the Senate, of which an 
immense number of copies were printed by that body. 
He struck a fatal blow at Executive usurpation, by 
demonstrating that all the discretionary powers are 
vested in Congress, and that the other Departments 
can do nothing " necessary and proper to carry out " 
their constitutional powers, without the previous sanc- 
tion of the law. He kept a steady eye on the Surplus 
Revenue, which, from various causes, accumulated be- 
yond all expectation, notwithstanding the reduction of 
duties under the Compromise Act. As this Surplus 
must now be temporary, he thought it better to divide 
it among the States, than to keep it as a permanent 
fund, or to waste it in profligate and corrupting expen- 
ditures. It was a cordial maxim with him to keep 
the Government poor. History shows that the most 



265 

fatal vices of all Governments originate in the com- 
mand of too mucli money. To lessen the necessary 
amount of revenue by curtailing expenditures, was an 
essential feature of Mr. Calhoun's great scheme of 
reform. He did not fail to oppose every improper 
apj)ropriatiou, and defeated many ; and, finally, suc- 
ceeded in carrying his proposition to relieve the dan- 
gerous plethora of the Treasury, by depositing the 
Surplus with the States — not to sustain tariffs as Jack- 
son's recommendation of a similar substitution was 
intended, and to be permanently maintained, but to 
arrest the general waste of money, until the Compro- 
mise Act materially reduced the revenue. 

Some of the diseases of the Government Mr. Cal- 
houn thought it would be dangerous to heal too sud- 
denly. One of these was the United States Bank, 
whose charter expired in 1836. Gen. Jackson had, in 
1832, vetoed a recharter of it ; and in October, 1833, 
he removed the Government funds from its coffers, and 
deposited them in the State Banks without any autho- 
rity from Congress. 

Mr. Calhoun condemned this high-handed and un- 
constitutional measure, and, believing that the Bank 
could not be closed immediately, without producing a 
financial convulsion — so completely had it brought 
the whole financial and mercantile system under its 
power — proposed to give it twelve years more to wind 
up its affairs. But he did not let the occasion pass, 
without clearly indicating his views of the Banking 
system. He said that the Government ought, at a 
proper time, to be entirely divorced from all connec- 
tion with Banks. " I have great doubts," he said, " if 
doubts they may be called, of the soundness and 



266 

tendency of the whole system, in all its modifications. 
I have ereat fears that all will be found hostile to 
liberty, and the advance of civilization — fatally hostile 
to liberty in our country, where the system exists in 
its worst and most dangerous form." His proposition 
fixiled, however, and the Bank fell headlong into ruin, 
dragging thousands of victims after it, and spreading 
deep gloom over the whole country. It is but just, 
however, to say, that this disastrous catastrophe, which 
did not occur until some years later, was due more to 
its own violent and reckless efforts to extend its in- 
fluence and operations, to maintain its existence, and to 
revenge its defeat, than to the measures of the Gov- 
ernment, unfair as they had been. 

Early in 1837, shortly after Mr. VanBuren's eleva- 
tion to the Presidency, the financial crisis which Mr. 
Calhoun had long predicted, came. In the crash, the 
Banks suspended payments almost everywhere, and 
among them, the deposit Banks. By a joint resolution, 
introduced by Mr. Calhoun in 1816, the notes of sus- 
pended Banks could not be received into the Treasury, 
and by a clause in the recent Deposit Act, such Banks 
could not be used as fiscal agents. Thus, suddenly, 
and in a most unexpected manner, the divorce between 
the Government and Banks was fully effected ; and be- 
lieving that no injury could now result from keeping 
them separate forever, Mr. Calhoun cordially and 
powerfully supported Mr. Van Buren's recommenda- 
tion, at the extra session of 1837, to reorganize the 
Treasury Department on the Sub-Treasury plan. To 
the Bill introduced, Mr. Calhoun moved an amend- 
ment, that specie only should be received in public 
dues, and made this the sine qua non of his support. 



267 

After many defeats and great difficulties in a contest 
that lasted six or seven years, this Sub-Treasury sys- 
tem, with, the specie feature, finally prevailed, and lias 
been found to work admirably. It has put an end to 
every prospect of the recharter of the United States 
Bank, and that once alarming source of danger to our 
Institutions, may be said to be extinct. 

For the part which Mr. Calhoun took on this occa- 
sion, he was subjected to a new and tremendous tor- 
rent of abuse and calumny. His course, since 1833, 
had led him to act mostly with the Opposition, who 
were endeavorino; to check the march of Executive 
usurjDation. This Opposition was composed chiefly of 
the sur\dving Federalists, and the recruits they had 
made from time to time, and now assumed the name of 
the Whig party, and on this very question received a 
large accession of State Rights men, and even Nullifi- 
ers, whose attachments and hostilities to men, and to 
subordinate measures, blinded them apparently to 
principles. With all these, Mr. Calhoun parted, when 
he took his ground in favor of the Sub-Treasury. He 
was charged with deserting his Party, though he had 
refused openly in the Senate to be called a Whig, and 
had, again and again, declared that he did not belong 
to either of the leading parties, but would act indif- 
ferently with whichever might be promoting his views 
of the Constitution and true policy of the Country. 
The charge of inconsistency, now so warmly urged 
against him, had been incessantly reiterated from 1828, 
and was continued, more or less, to the hour of his 
death. It is surprising, that, in an enlightened age like 
this, such narrow notions of consistency should so ex- 
tensively prevail. The situation of public affairs is 



268 

ever sliifting, and tlie wise and patriotic Statesman 
must necessarily vary liis own course to conform to, 
or oppose every altered state of circumstances. New 
truths are daily developed, not only in tlie scientific 
world, but in tlie workings of political systems, and 
especially in our own. Those only who are ignorant 
of these discoveries, can remain without change in their 
opinions ; and to change opinions, and not avow and 
act upon them, is to be basely and dangerously false. 
Cicero, when accused of inconsistency in having sided 
with almost every party to which the convulsions of his 
times had given birth, fully admitted the fact that he 
had done so, but nobly vindicated himself by showing, 
that, in every change, he had in view one consistent 
object — the good of Eome. Thus Cato, after years of 
warm hostility to Pomj^ey, advised his countrymen to 
put all power in his hands. Thus Aristides volunteered 
to serve under Themistocles ; thus Solon became the 
counsellor of Pisistratus, who had overthrown his Con- 
stitution. Mr. Calhoun himself, as long ago as his speech 
on the repeal of the Embargo, had very properly de- 
fined inconsistency to be " a change of conduct without 
a change of circumstances to justify it." Tried l^y this 
standard, he was never liable to any imputation of 
inconsistency. He never moved, in any direction, with- 
out giving such cogent reasons -for it, as must satisfy 
every impartial mind, if not of the propriety, at least 
of the reality of his convictions. Influenced by the 
highest and most patriotic considerations, and scorning 
the false and vulgar cry of inconsistency, he did not 
hesitate a moment in magnanimously extending the 
thorough and efifective support of his powerful intellect, 
in the hour of their greatest need, to the man who had 



269 

been, lie believed, his most zealous enemy, and to the 
party which had excluded him from its ranks with the 
most violent anathemas. 

He was now gladly welcomed back ; and, in the high 
and commanding position in the Republican Party, 
which, through the severest trials, he had a second 
time won for himself, it is difficult to over-estimate 
what he might have achieved, had that party been 
able to sustain itself in power at that time. But, the 
name of Mr. Van Buren was not associated in the 
minds of the people, with any brilliant talents or illus- 
trious services. Magician, as he was said to be among 
his partisans, he could cast no spell upon the masses, 
excited by the wide-spread financial troubles of the 
times, all of which were naturally attributed l)y the ig- 
norant, and not without much justice, to the errors and 
corruj^tions of the party then in j)ower. He was over- 
thrown in the election of 1840, and the Whigs came 
into the Presidency with a majority in both Houses of 
Congress. An extra Session was immediately called 
and held in the spring of 1841, but before it met, Gen. 
Harrison died, and the Vice-President, Mr. Tyler, who, 
fortunately for the country, though a Whig, had been 
bred a State Rights Republican, succeeded to the 
vacant Chair. 

Tlie Whigs, elated with victory, rushed to Wash- 
ington, resolved to secure all its fruits without delay. 
Banks, Tariffs, Distributions of Revenue, the most 
prodigal expenditures for individual and sectional bene- 
fit, and Bankrupt Laws to wipe off the embarrassment 
of past extravagance and speculation, swam in delight- 
ful confusion before their excited vision. Measures 
were jiromptly brought forward, and pressed on the 



270 

minority witli unequalled energy and arrogance. Mr. 
Calhoun was the leader of the Republican Party in 
the Senate. He penetrated every design, and met 
every movement of the Whigs. To all the measures 
that could not be defeated, conditions were proposed 
and sustained with such unanswerable arguments, that 
the reaction of public opinion compelled the majority 
to pause, to waver, and finally to give way — and the 
close of that Session, which had been called by the 
Whigs to consolidate their power, found them not 
only a dispirited, but virtually a defeated Party ; re- 
sults which were due in great measure, to the activity 
and firmness, the powerful logic and profound States- 
manshij3 of Mr. Calhoun. 

In that Session, however, and the two succeeding, 
during which the Whigs remained in power, several 
unconstitutional and dangerous measures were forced 
through. The Bankrupt Law, which was soon repealed. 
The distribution of Revenue, arising from sale of pub- 
lic lands, which expired under the condition imposed on 
it. The recharter of the Bank, which was vetoed by 
Mr. Tyler. The Tariff Act of 1842, which was equally 
stringent with that of 1828. This Act, which was 
passed in open violation of the Compromise Act of 1833 
— a violation which should forever put an end to all 
faith in Legislative Compromises by Congress, was jus- 
tified on the ground that a larger revenue was indis- 
pensable to the Government. A justification delibe- 
rately prepared before-hand by the unconstitutional 
distribution of a portion of the Revenue, and the pro- 
digal expenditures which so many corrupt interests had 
fastened on the Government. 

A resort to State action to resist this oppressive act. 



271 

was again proposed by some in South Carolina. But 
Mr, Calhoun resisted it, because he believed that the 
next Congressional Elections would bring the Kepuljli- 
cans into power, and that they would repeal the law. 
They obtained majorities, but did not repeal; aud in 
1844, a more strenuous effort was made to excite State 
interposition. But Mr. Calhoun resisted still. There 
was one hope left. The approaching election for Presi- 
dent would give the Republicans complete control of 
the Federal Government, and he desired to await that 
event. The fact was, that after the experience of 1833, 
— the consolidation principles then avowed by all par- 
ties and the growing alienations of the different sections 
since — he believed the Union could not survive the 
decisive resistance of a State on points of vital interest, 
and his attachment to it was so deep that he was averse 
to putting it to hazard, while any reasonable hope was, 
left of redress by other means. A Republican Presi- 
dent was elected, and in 1846, the Tariff of 1842 was 
so materially modified as to forbid extreme resistance. 
But, after all the struggles of more than a quarter of 
a century, the Protective System, though somewhat 
weakened in opinion and narrowed in action, still 
flourishes in violation of every principle of free and 
equal Government — a gross infraction of the Constitu- 
tion, and a deadly injury to the South. 

During the Session of 1843, Mr. Calhoun again 
strikingly displayed his devotion to his country, and 
the impossibility of surrendering his serious convic- 
tions and his patriotic sense of duty to party consid- 
erations, by strenuously aud successfully opposing, in 
common with the Whigs, a proposition from the Re- 
publican ranks to take possession of the whole of Ore- 



272 

gon, without necessity, under doubtful title, and at 
imminent hazard of a war with England. At the close 
of that Session he resigned his seat in the Senate, and 
retired from public life. 

His health, which, although his constitution had 
been considered diseased and ultimately proved to be 
so, had been almost perfect throughout his long ser- 
vice, began now to exhibit some symptoms of decay. 
And well it might — and well might he be wearied out. 
For ten — ^in fact for fourteen successive years, he had 
been engaged in a contest that taxed to their uttermost 
all his physical and mental powers. Body and spirit, 
he had devoted himself without a moment's respite to 
the arduous and perilous task of restoring a violated 
Constitution and a corrupted Government. It had 
been one long, raging storm, with scarce a single inter- 
mission. A storm such as none but the most hopeful 
and the bravest would have dared to defy, and in which 
none but the most prudent, the most hardy, the most 
skilful — endowed with the rarest intellect, strengthened 
by every resource upon which genius can make a re- 
quisition, and held to the encounter by an unconquer- 
able will — could have outrode a second blast. But he 
stood in the centre of the vortex, unblenched, im- 
moveable 

" As a tower, that firmly set, 

Shakes not its top for any wind that blows." 

For the first time a clear expanse was now visible 
above the political horizon. The Federalists, tracked 
through all their disguises, were again beaten to the 
ground. They lay prostrate, and the Repubhcans, 
after the salutary experience of a great reverse and 
many yeai-s of desperate warfare, all brought on by 



273 

their owu departure from the Constitution, were about 
to resume, in full, the reins of power, made wiser not 
only by the events of the past, but by the brilliant 
light which his clear and profound intellect had shed 
and concentrated around the principles of Constitu- 
tional Government ; and Mr. Calhoun, with the en- 
tire approbation of his friends, seized this apparently 
propitious moment to retire and recruit after his long 
and arduous labors. 

The State of South Carolina in May, 1843, nomina- 
ted Mr. Calhoun for the Presidency. But in Decem- 
ber following, he withdrew his name, when it became 
apparent that the Convention, to be held at Baltimore 
to nominate the candidate of the whole Republican 
Party, was not to be constituted on principles analo- 
gous to the Constitution. He could not, with his views, 
accept a nomination, if tendered, by a Convention 
formed in any other manner, and he did not wish to 
embarrass the Party from mere personal considerations. 

He was not permitted, however, to enjoy his repose 
for any length of time. In the spring of 1844, he was 
nominated as Secretary of State, by Mr. Tyler, without 
his previous knowledge ; and the nomination being 
instantly and unanimously confirmed, he could not do 
otherwise than obey the call. Two critical and emi- 
nently important negotiations were then on foot. One 
to adjust the Oregon question with England; the 
other to secure the annexation of Texas. In the latter, 
his success was complete, and to him, perhaps, more 
than to any other, we owe that important and invalu- 
able acquisition. The Oregon negotiation was not 
closed when Mr. Polk came into office. He did not 
tender to Mr. Calhoun the reappointment as Secre- 



274 

tary, but offered and urged on liim an Embassy to 
England, to continue that negotiation. But believing 
bis post of duty was, if anywhere, on this side of the 
Atlantic, he declined the Embassy, and returned once 
more to his Plantation. 

In the hands of Mr. Calhoun's successor, the Oregon 
negotiations completely failed. The President was 
pledged by his party to claim the whole of the Terri- 
tory, and the fulfilment of that pledge was now de- 
manded. Should Congress sustain the claim, war was 
inevitable, and, as the Eepublican Party had majorities 
in both Houses, there seemed to be no escape. The 
whole country became alarmed. In this exciting crisis, 
the eyes of all parties, all interests, all classes, were 
turned instinctively to Mr. Calhoun — the pilot who 
had weathered so many storms — the sagacious and pa- 
triotic Statesman who had been found equal to every 
emergency. His return to the Federal Councils was 
called for from every quarter, and his successor in the 
Senate, Judge Huger, with a rare magnanimity, offered 
to give way for him. There was no resisting such ap- 
peals, and Mr. Calhoun returned to Washington late 
in December, 1846. When he took his seat, it was so 
fully understood that the Executive, backed by a ma- 
jority in Congress, was resolved to assert our right to 
the whole of Oregon, and to attempt to take immedi- 
ate possession of it, that the Opposition was paralyzed 
in de,spair. He did not lose a moment in taking a 
clear, decided, and open stand against the Administra- 
tion he had contributed so largely to bring into power. 
He rallied the dispirited Opposition, composed chiefly 
of AA^higs, with whom he had lately been so violently 
contending. He appealed to the country against the 



275 

Republican Party. The sound common sense of tlie 
people sustained him : and the tide of public opinion 
set in so strongly in favor of a compromise with Eng- 
land, that negotiations were resumed with fresh vigor, 
and in a few months the whole question was adjusted 
to the entire satisfaction of the great body of every 
party in the two countries. In his whole public career, 
Mr. Calhoun had never rendered a more conspicuous 
— perhaps never a more substantial — service to his 
country ; and it was appreciated and acknowledged 
throughout the Union. To him, and almost to him 
alone, was justly and universally accredited the dis- 
tinguished merit of having saved the United States 
from a war with the most powerful nation in the 
world, about a matter so insignificant as to be almost 
frivolous, and in which neither the honor nor the in- 
terests of either were seriously involved. Thousands 
of such wars disfigure the pages of history, and have 
often been the most bloody and disastrous. 

But this aftair had hardly been placed in a sure 
train of settlement before another difiiculty arose, in 
appearance far less formidable, but in its results likely 
to prove much the most important in our annals, since 
the Revolution. A sudden, and to the great body of 
our people, most unexpected war broke out with Mexi- 
co. Pending negotiations with that Republic concern- 
ing the western boundary of Texas, a portion of our 
Army had been, contrary to the usual courtesy of na- 
tions, marched into the disputed Territory. The Mexi- 
cans attacked it. Battles ensued, and a flame was 
kindled, which spread instantaneously over both coun- 
tries. Congress was called on to declare, or rather to 
recognize the existence of war, and to make the most 



276 

extensive provisions for its vigorous prosecution. Mr. 
Calhoun did not hesitate to take his stand against the 
war. He condemned the invasion of disputed terri- 
tory ; but as it had been done and battles fought, he 
was for voting such supplies as would enable our army 
to maintain its position, and without recognizing a state 
of war, to renew negotiations. But he stood alone — 
literally alone — abandoned by all parties in the Sen- 
ate. Yet he did not waver. He knew that peace was 
the fundamental policy of our country. That war was 
disastrous to all its real interests, and was only to be 
waored to maintain that most vital of all interests— its 
honor. And that could never be involved in a contest 
with so weak a power as Mexico. He saw, too, that 
all his hopes of reforming the Government and resus- 
citating the Constitution must vanish when the sword 
was draAvn. Other fatal consequences were also ajipar- 
ent to his keen vision. But he could not see all. No 
human sagacity could penetrate them then, or can pen- 
etrate them now. Mr. Calhoun declared that though 
he foresaw much evil, for the first time in his whole 
public life, he could not foi'm a rational conjecture of 
the end — that an impenetrable curtain had fallen be- 
twixt him and the future. For the first time, too, he 
was sunk in gloom. And that great heart, which had 
never before felt fear, was stricken with terror — almost 
with despair. Hostilities were carried on with vigor. 
Victory crowned every effort of our arms ; and an im- 
perishable wreath of military glory was won for our 
flag — South Carolina contributing some of the bright- 
est and most unfoding flowers. Mr. Calhoun steadily 
interposed, on every opportune occasion, to arrest the 
progress of the war, brilliant as it was ; and hailed 



2'7T 

•with delight the Treaty of Peace, which was ratified 
early in 1848. 

The first important consequence of the war was an 
immense expenditure — far exceeding the ordinary 
revenues, and entailing on the country a heavy debt, 
which has put an end to all prospect of an early 
reduction of the Protective Duties. The next was the 
overthrow of the political party which conducted it, 
by the elevation of one of its successful Generals to 
the Presidency; an event not due so much to the 
errors committed by the one, or the wisdom and pat- 
riotism displayed by the other party, as to the disgust 
felt by a large portion of the people for both, and 
their desire to establish for once an administration that 
would not be governed by party considerations — a 
desire which has been altogether disappointed. The 
third great consequence of the war has been the 
unparalleled excitement occasioned by the attempt 
and failure to make a fair division between the Slave- 
holding and non-Slaveholding sections of this con- 
federacy, of the immense territory acquired from 
Mexico — an excitement in the midst of which we now 
are, and the result of which it is not given us to 
foresee. 

I have omitted thus far to do more than incidentally 
allude to a question of the highest and most vital 
interest, which has long and deeply agitated our coun- 
try, in the conduct of which Mr. Calhoun has acted 
throughout a conspicuous and leading part. At the 
period of the Declaration of Independence, African 
Slavery was established in every Colony, and, as late 
as the formation of the Constitution, slaves were still 
held in every State. But it was a decaying institution 
18 



278 

everywhere save in the Plantation States, and great 
apprehensions existed among the Southern members of 
the Convention that the other States would combine to 
emancipate all the Slaves immediately, or gradually. 
They therefore refused absolutely to enter into any 
union with them without a distinct agreement on this 
essential matter. One great object in so constructing 
the Federal Government that it should have no powers 
not clearly conferred upon it, reserving all others to 
the States, was to prevent legislation on this subject. 
But beyond this the Southern Delegates required a 
Constitutional obligation from all the other States, to 
assist them in maintaining their authority over their 
slaves in case of necessity, by restoring fugitives and 
aiding to put down insurrections. They also demanded 
a recognition of slaves as a permanent element of 
political power and a fixed caste, by assigning them a 
representation, though a restricted one, in Congress. 
From the adoption of the Constitution up to 1819, the 
harmony between the North and South was never for 
a moment seriously disturbed by the Slave question. 
At that period, when Missouri applied for admission 
into the Union, the North, where African Slavery w^as 
now almost wholly extinct, opposed her application, on 
the ground that Slaveholding was permitted by her 
Constitution. A deeply exciting controversy immedi- 
ately arose, which was finally adjusted by the conces- 
sion from the South that, thereafter, no Slaveholding 
State should be admitted into the Union North of 
36° 30' N. latitude. 

For many years after this contest there was no 
open agitation of this exciting topic, and public men 
in every section generally concurred in frowning upon 



2Y9 

all attempts to bring it forward. It was not until 1834- 
'35, that it again made its appearance on the political 
stage, when petitions were poured in upon Congress to 
legislate upon it. It was then discovered that, without 
attracting much attention, a great many Abolition 
Societies had been formed in the Northern States, who 
had set up presses and printed books, pamj^hlets, 
newspapers and engravings in immense numbers, and 
disseminated them North and South for the purpose of 
arousing the people to what were termed the horrors 
of African Slavery. Public lecturers were also em- 
ployed and sent everywhere. The excitement in- 
creased rapidly. The people of the non-Slaveholding 
States seemed ripe for it. But lately they had been 
apparently baffled in their attempt to make us the 
overseers of our slaves for their benefit. No longer 
having it in prospect to reap the harvest of our fields 
and gather into their own granaries, by virtue of their 
legislation, one half of the net produce of the labor 
of the slaves, they were eager, in their rage and dis- 
appointment, to deprive us of the slaves themselves, 
and blast our prosperity forever. Both branches of 
Congress were soon flooded with petitions, full of the 
vilest abuse and slander of the South, and praying for 
the Abolition of Slavery and the Slave Trade in the 
District of Columbia. Others followed asking the 
Abolition of Slavery in the Territories, Forts, Dock- 
yards, <fec., and of the trade between the States. Some 
demanded the Abolition of Slavery in the States ; and 
finally it was petitioned that the Union should be dis- 
solved to save the North from the sin of slaveholding. 
Warm and, at length, the most angry debates in Con- 
gress were brought about by these petitions. At first. 



280 

few or none professed to be in favor of them, yet the 
non-Slaveholding majority never would permit the 
South to adopt any decisive measure to exclude them 
from the Halls of Congress. In no long while, how- 
ever there was a complete change. The Abolitionists 
were soon strong enough to enter fully into the politi- 
cal field. They nominated candidates for President 
and Vice-President, and exhibited the startling fact, 
that, in that election, they held the balance of power 
between the parties in several of the largest States. 
From that moment they were courted, openly or se- 
cretly, by nearly every aspiring politician in the non- 
Slaveholding States. They soon sent members to Con- 
gress as their especial Representatives, and struck 
down every public man in the North who dared to 
defend the institutions of the South. 

Against this violent crusade on the South, Mr. Cal- 
houn took his stand at the very first, and combated it 
with all his powers, at every step, and to the latest 
moment of his life. He succeeded in arresting the 
circulation of Abolition publications through the mail, 
and, for a long time, he kept their petitions at the 
threshold of the Houses of Congress. In fact, Aboli- 
tion petitions were formally received in the Senate for 
the first time, on the last day that he appeared there. 
From the beginning he predicted the progress of this 
agitation through all its stages, and declared that it 
must inevitably bring about a dissolution of the Union, 
if not put down early and forever. 

While the Abolitionists have directed their attacks 
against specific parts of the Slave system, they have 
never made any secret of what indeed was perfectly 
apparent, that, from the first, their object was the 



281 

entire emancipation of all the African race in the 
United States, without removal and without compen* 
sation to their owners, since removal or compensation 
are known to be utterly impossible. They proclaimed 
that by the laws of nature all men are free and equal ; 
and that African Slavery is a social and political evil, 
and a deadly sin against God. Mr. Calhoun con- 
tended that, if our Slavery was a social evil and sin, 
we alone would be the sufferers and should be allowed 
to deal with it ourselves. Politically he claimed for 
it only the fulfilment of the solemn guaranties of the 
Constitution. But he thought it could not be a sin, 
since God had expressly ordained it ; nor an evil, since 
both the white and black races had improved in 
every point of view under the system. He scouted the 
idea of natural freedom and equality. Men were born 
helpless, and owed life, liberty and everything to 
those who nurtured them. A state of complete natu- 
ral liberty was inconceivable. Even the wildest sav- 
ages placed severe restraints upon it. And so far 
from men being created equal, no two men, and in 
fact no two things, were ever yet created precisely 
equal. Inequality is the fundamental law of nature, 
and hence alone the harmony of the universe. But 
it was useless to attempt to reason with enthusiastic 
Abolitionists, or with the masses of the non-Slave- 
holders, equally bigoted in their abstract notions of 
morality, freedom and equality. It was still more 
useless to attempt to reason with politicians who ex- 
isted only in the breath of such a people. A majority 
influenced by such ideas, and led on, some by a fanat- 
ical zeal to enforce what they believed to be ti'uth, 
others by the love of power, and all by the hope of 



282 

spoil, has never yet been effectually checked except 
by force. 

It has not, however, yet become the plan of the 
Abolitionists to carry their purposes by a direct and 
decisive exertion of the political power they possess. 
They wish first to acquire a more overwhelming 
power, both political and physical. And, to effect 
this, they have aimed steadily to enlarge their own 
domain and to narrow down that of the Slaveholders, 
while they have endeavored to divide the South by 
appeals to the consciences of all, and to the supposed 
interests of the non-Slaveholders among us. And the 
two great political parties of the North have skilfully 
aided them in dividing and lulling the South for the 
purpose of keeping up their own connections with 
their respective allies here. They have united in 
denouncing, and have taught many to denounce as 
ultraists, disunionists and traitors, all those who have 
attempted to awaken the Southern people to a sense 
of the dangers that environed them. And more 
did they denounce than all the rest Mr. Calhoun, 
whose sagacity could not be deluded — whose vii'tue 
was incorruptible, and whose constant exposure of 
their designs, and effective opposition to them, was 
apparently the greatest obstacle to their success. 
Listening to no compromises, and snapping instantly 
every party tie where this transcendent question was 
involved, he waged mortal combat on every issue, 
open or concealed. The great difl&culty with the 
Abolitionists was to identify their cause with some of 
the great practical political questions of the country. 
The pretended infringement of the much abused right 
of petition could not be made to serve them materially, 



283 

for it was too absurd to contend that Congress was 
bound to receive and treat respectfully all sorts of 
petitions — petitions frivolous, unconstitutional and de- 
structive of law, order and society. When the an- 
nexation of Texas was brought forward, they fastened 
upon that measure, and opposed it with great zeal and 
much effect, upon the ground that it extended the 
area of Slavery. But there were too many interests, 
even in the North, in favor of annexation, and Mr. 
Calhoun was enabled to defeat them signally. But 
when the Mexican war was declared, a new and vast 
field was opened to them. It was certain that a large 
territory would be gained by that war : and it was 
scarcely begun before it was moved in Congress and 
carried in the House, and almost carried in the Senate, 
to prohibit Slavery in the domain that might be 
acquired. 

The alarm was immediately sounded, and the South 
appeared for once to be fully roused. A number of 
Southern States declared, through their Legislatures, 
that if this Prohibition was enacted they would not 
submit to it. While, on the other hand, a still larger 
number of Northern States made Legislative declara- 
tions in favor of it, and instructed their Senators to 
support it. Thus, at length, the Abolition question, 
always purely sectional, became again, as in the case of 
Missouri, but under far more ominous circumstances, 
the chief element in the most important practical po- 
litical issue of the day. From 1846 up to near the 
close of the late memorable Session of Congress, this 
contest was carried on in various forms with deepen- 
ing import, until at length it entirely absorbed the 
public mind, and occupied the Federal Government to 



284 

the almost total exclusion of all other business. Early 
in the last Session it came up on the proposition to 
admit California into the Union. A band of adven- 
turers having assembled in that distant region in un- 
known numbers, and, to a great extent, of unknown 
origin — scarcely any with legal titles to lands, and still 
fewer with fixed residences — after calling a Conven- 
tion without proper authority, formed a government 
and demanded admission, as a Sovereign State, into 
the Union, with boundaries embracing the whole Paci- 
fic Coast to Oregon, and a Constitution, which, for the 
express purpose of securing the support of the non- 
Slaveholding majority, prohibited Slavery. 

Mr. Calhoun's health, which had been failing 
rapidly for a few years past, had at length become so 
feeble that it was evident to his friends he could not 
long survive ; and during the previous summer it was 
considered scarcely possible that he could return again 
to Washington. To almost any other man it would 
have been impossible. But when he saw the great 
battle which he had so long led had reached, as he 
believed, its final crisis ; and that the fate of his coun- 
try hung on the momentous movement which was 
about to be made, he discarded all thoughts of self- 
preservation, and hastened to the field, resolved to 
spend his last breath in striking one more blow for the 
great cause of the South — the cause of Justice and of 
the Constitution. 

Arrived at Washington, his health was so feeble 
that he was soon compelled to remain most of his 
time at his lodgings, and went only occasionally to the 
Senate. In the mean while the conflict went fiercely 
on; and numerous plans for adjusting it were set 



285 

afloat. Mr. Calhoun committed his views to paper, 
and on the 4th of March, after a long interval, ap- 
peared with it in the Senate. But he was not able 
even to read it, and transferred the task to his friend, 
Mr. Mason, a Senator from Virginia. In that speech 
he traced the territorial history of the United States, 
showing that the non-Slaveholding States, who ori- 
ginally owned but one fourth of the territory of the 
Union, were about to succeed, by the action of the 
Government and the concessions of the South, in get- 
ting possession of nearly three-fourths of it : that, by 
the system of revenue and expenditure which had been 
adopted, much the larger portion of the taxes were 
paid by the South, while the disbursements were made 
chiefly at the North : and that while these measures 
destroyed the equilibrium between the two sections 
the Federal Government had concentrated all power 
in itself, and interpreted the Constitution and ruled 
the country according to the will of a majority, re- 
sponsible only to the Northern section, by which it is 
elected. The result of all, he said, was that " what 
was once a Constitutional Federal Republic, is now 
converted, in reality, into one as absolute as that of 
the Autocrat of Russia, and as despotic in its tenden- 
cies as any absolute Government that ever existed." 
He showed that the California adventurers had no 
right to attempt to form a State without previous per- 
mission from Congress, and that what they had done 
was "revolutionary and rebellious in its character, 
anarchical in its tendency, and calculated to lead to 
the most dangerous consequences." He gave a succinct 
history of Abolition from its origin ; showed how it 
had gained strength year by year, and declared that. 



286 

" if sometliing decisive was not now done to arrest it 
the Soutli would be forced to choose between Eman- 
cipation and Secession." He denounced the childish 
idea of preserving the Union by continually crying 
" Union ! Union ! the glorious Union ! " and expressed 
his conviction that there was no other way to save it, 
but by an amendment to the Constitution, " which 
would restore to the South in substance the power she 
l^ssessed of protecting herself, before the equilibrium 
between the two sections was destroyed by the action 
of the Government." 

No speech ever pronounced in Congress produced a 
more profound sensation there and in the country than 
this did. The deep and incalculable importance of the 
questions in issue ; and the fact that this was generally 
regarded as the last effort of an illustrious statesman, 
who had, for almost half a century, led in the councils 
of the Confederacy, scarcely heightened the intensity 
of the interest created by the novel and startling, yet 
sound and prophetic views which had been developed 
with a force and clearness rarely equalled. Mr. Cal- 
houn, himself, intended it rather as a preliminary 
speech. He still hoped that he could, by his iron will, 
baffle and repel the advances of disease, and that God 
would spare him to consummate this last task. He 
had only laid down his groundwork, and reserved am- 
ple materials for reply, after 'all had exhibited their 
positions, and his had been sufficiently attacked. He 
did not even announce what amendments to the Con- 
stitution he intended to propose. Whatever they 
were — for he afterwards said that several were neces- 
sary — the suggestion of them manifested his undimin- 
ished anxiety for the preservation of a Constitutional 



287 

Union ; and the latest oifering of his life was laid upon 
that altar at which he had so long worshipped. It is 
scarcely to be regretted that he did not specify them, 
for nothing is more certain than that no amendments 
to the Constitution can ever be carried that will give 
the South the express power of self-protection. They 
would not receive a single vote from that Northern 
majority, which will ere long be large enough to amend 
the Constitution without the South, if it shall choose 
to regard forms in perpetrating its oppressions. But 
such amendments, if passed, would not avail the South, 
for her action under them would scon be denounced as 
revolutionary, as the clearly Constitutional right of 
Secession is now denounced. 

In fact, neither this Union nor any Union or Gov- 
ernment can exist long by virtue of mere paper stipu- 
lations. " Written Constitutions," said Anacharsis to 
Solon, " are but spiders' webs, which hold only the poor 
and weak, while the rich and powerful easily break 
through." Solon thought otherwise, but lived to see 
the Government he established completely overthrown. 
Lycurgus, more wise, forbade written laws. His prin- 
ciples were durably impressed, by training from child- 
hood, on the minds and manners of his j)eople, and 
interwoven with the whole social fabric. And they 
governed the Spartans for six centuries or more. In 
modern France no enacted Constitution has survived 
five years ; while the Constitution of England, resting 
on traditions and occasional Acts and Charters, appears 
to bid defiance to time and progress. Those Govern- 
ments only can endure which spring naturally from 
the social system, and are habitually sustained by it. 
And written — artificial Constitutions are, indeed, but 



288 

" spiders' webs," if they do not continually draw their 
vital breath from the same living source. For more 
than twenty years the Federal Constitution has been a 
dead letter, or a snare to the minority. It has, for 
that length of time, had no material influence in main- 
taining the Union of these States. They have been 
held together by habit ; by the recollections of the past, 
and a common reverence for the patriots and heroes of 
the Eevolution ; by the ties of political parties, of re- 
ligious sects, and business intercourse. But the events 
of these twenty years, and mainly the developments of 
Abolitionism, have clearly revealed to us that we have 
at least two separate, distinct, and in some essential 
points, antagonistic social systems, whose differences 
can never be reconciled and subjected to one equal and 
just Government, unless our respective industrial inter- 
ests are left free from every shackle, and the fell spirit 
of Abolitionism crushed and entirely eradicated. Many 
of the cords which once bound these two systems to- 
gether have been, as Mr. Calhoun pointed out in his 
last speech, already snapped asunder. The religious 
bonds have been nearly all ruptured ; party ties are 
going fast ; those of business are seriously endangered. 
It is vain to hope to preserve the Union by any com- 
mon sentiment of reverence for the past, or even by 
amending the Constitution, unless these severed chains 
can be relinked together, and that brotherly love which 
mingled the blood of our fathers in the battle fields of 
the Eevolution can be restored, by providential inter- 
position, to its ancient fervor. It is, however, the prov- 
ince and the sacred duty of the statesman, whatever 
may be the ultimate result, to point out the diseases of 
the Constitution and the Government, and to propose 



289 

the best remedies he can. This was the great object of 
Mr. Calhoun for the last two and twenty years of his 
career. For this he lived : and to this his last efforts 
and his latest thoughts were consecrated. 

Consecrated in vain ! for already the disease has 
passed a fatal crisis, and there is no longer a remedy 
that can save. California has been admitted, and the 
equilibrium of this Government has been destroyed 
forever. The edict has gone forth that no new Slave- 
holding State shall ever enter the Union : and the 
South, deprived at last, and finally, of her equality in 
the Senate, the only safe hold she ever had in this Con- 
federacy, and from which she has so long and so nobly 
battled for her rights, is now condemned to a minority 
that can know no change, in every department of the 
Federal Government. The Slaveholding States have 
become emphatically the Provinces of a great Empire, 
ruled by a permanent sectional majority, unrelentingly 
hostile to them, and daring, as it is despotic. If they 
submit to continue thus, their history is already written 
— in the chronicles of Poland, of Hungary, and of Ire- 
land — ^perhaps of St. Domingo and Jamaica. 

After the 4th of March, Mr. Calhoun went but two 
or three times to the Senate Chamber. His last ap- 
pearance there was on the 13th of that month ; and as 
if the political storms which had pursued him so long 
were fated to pursue him to the last, he had, on that 
day, a warm debate, in which he was compelled to 
maintain the expediency of his proposition to amend 
the Constitution ; and to defend himself from the charge 
of aiming to dissolve the Union. He retired exhausted, 
and returned no more. But still his thoughts were 
there, and his anxious interest for his distracted coun- 



290 

try lent its excitement to every pulsation of his heart. 
" If I could have," he said, as his end drew near, " If I 
could have one hour more to speak in the Senate, I 
could do more good than on any past occasion of my 

life." 

He expired tranquilly on the morning of the 31st 

of March. 

The deep and poignant grief which pervaded our 
State on the announcement of this event, although it 
was not unexpected, I will not attempt to depict. 
Your own hearts retain and cherish a recollection of 
it more vivid and more durable than could be re- 
called, or impressed by any words of mine. The same 
feelings seemed to penetrate almost every portion of 
the Union. Since the death of Washington, no similar 
event it is generally agreed, has produced a sensation 
so profound and universal. Envy and malice, sectional 
hostility and party persecution, seemed to be instantly 
extinguished. His real greatness was at once fully 
acknowledged, and all united in paying the highest 
honors to his memory. 

Mr. Calhoun's moral character, as exhibited to the 
public, was of the Roman stamp. Lofty in his senti- 
ments, stern in his bearing, inflexible in his opinions, 
there was no sacrifice he would not have made with- 
out a moment's hesitation, and few that he did not 
make, to his sense of duty and his love of country. As 
a Consul, he would have been a Publicola, — as a 
Censor, Cato — as a Tribune, Gracchus. He was often 
denounced for his ambition, but his integrity was never 
questioned. "Ambition is," as Mr. Burke justly 
said, " the malady of every extensive genius." Mr. 
Calhoun's enemies believed that it infected him to an 



291 

extraordinary and dangerous degree. But tlie enemies 
of every distinguislied man have said tlie same. He 
undoubtedly desired power. But there is no evidence 
to be found, either in his conduct or in his words, that 
he ever stooped to any mean compliance to obtain it, 
or that, when obtained, he ever used it but in the 
purest manner and for the welfare of his whole coun- 
try. The nature of his ambition was well tested. 
Eight years Vice-President; for as long a period a 
Minister of State ; six years in the House of Bepre- 
sentatives, and fifteen in the Senate of the United 
States, he enjoyed all the power of the highest offices 
of our Government, save the very highest, and that 
he would in all human probability have attained, but 
that his aspirations were subordinate to his principles, 
and these led him to repudiate his party, and throw 
himself into opposition to its corruptions when it was 
at the zenith of its power. 

That he did not reach the Presidency, and that no 
other statesman of the first rank has had the slightest 
prospect of reaching it for the last five and twenty 
years, are among the most striking proofs of the down- 
ward tendency of our Federal Institutions. 

In private life Mr. Calhoun was remarkably acces- 
sible. Open, unsuspicious, mild in his manners and 
uniformly warm, cheerful, and hopeful, he was interest- 
ing, instructive and agreeable to all who had the hap- 
piness to know him. While in every domestic relation 
his conduct approached as near perfection as we can 
suppose human nature capable of doing. 

The intellect of Mr. Calhoun was cast in the Gre- 
cian mould : intuitive, profound, original — descending 
to the minutest details of practical affairs ; and soaring 



292 

aloft, with balanced wing, into tlie highest heavens of 
invention. He appreciated wit and humor, the flights 
of fancy and the keen shafts of sarcasm ; but he either 
did not possess, or entirely failed to cultivate the 
faculties which lead to distinction in these lines. He 
admired and valued high-toned declamation on appro- 
priate occasions; and sometimes, though rarely, at- 
tempted it himself, and not without success. The force 
of his imagination, his command of language, his no- 
bility of sentiment, and his enthusiastic temperament 
eminently qualified him for declamation of the highest 
order, and his themes were as well adapted to it as 
those of Demosthenes himself. But the audience to 
which he commonly addressed himself could not hear 
his voice or see his action, or decide his cause under 
the spell of eloquence. It covered millions of square 
miles, and reached far down the stream of time. And 
his keen judgment and deep earnestness would not 
qften permit him to use weapons that could strike 
effectively those only who were near at hand. The 
intellectual power of Mr. Calhoun was due mainly to 
the facility and accuracy with which he resolved prop- 
ositions into their elementary principles, and the 
astonishing rapidity with which he deduced from these 
principles all their just and necessary consequences. 
The moment a sophism was presented to him he 
pierced it through and through, and plunging into the 
labyrinth, brought truth from the remote recesses 
where she delights to dwell, and placed her, in her 
native simplicity, before the eyes of men. It was in 
these preeminent faculties that Mr. Calhoun's mind 
resembled the antique and particularly the genuine 
Greek mind, which recoiled from plausibilities and 



293 

looked with ineffable disgust on that mere grouping of 
associated ideas which so generally passes for reason- 
ing. It was in conformity with these great intellectual 
endowments that he created all his speeches and State 
papers. It was commonly said of his productions that 
they were characterized by extraordinary conden- 
sation. But Mr. Calhoun was often careless in his 
diction, and habitually so in the construction of his 
sentences. He sought only the words that most 
clearly expressed his meaning, and left their arrange- 
ment apparently to chance. What he did do was to 
go straight to the bottom of his subject, following the 
slender plummet line of truth until he reached it. 
Then he built up in a manner equally direct, discard- 
ing all extraneous materials ; and erected a structure, 
simple, uniform and consistent, decorated with no 
ornament for the sake of ornament, and occupying no 
more space than was necessary for the purposes in 
view. 

The faculty of Invention — which is the highest 
characteristic of genius — is the necessary result of 
rapid and correct analysis and synthesis. To the 
possession of these powers, then, is also due the 
aknowledged originality of Mr. Calhoun, which gave 
such a j^eculiar charm to every one of his productions, 
as led the public invariably to pronounce his latest to 
be the best. The common mind never looks beneath 
the surface, and draws its conclusions from the facts 
and arguments that float around it. Even rather 
uncommon minds seldom penetrate very deep or very 
quickly. From whatever subject, therefore, upon 
which such extraordinary powers of analysis and 
generalization were brought to bear, they would ne- 
19 



294 

cessarily extract ideas lying far beyond the range of 
others, and so new and startling as to overwhelm ordi- 
nary intellects and obliterate their confused remem- 
brances of past ^productions, in which he had carried 
them delighted through equally unaccustomed regions- 

Hence, also, arose and was received the charge, 
worn thread-bare by reiteration, that Mr. Calhoun's 
mind was too metaphysical and speculative for con- 
ducting the affairs of Government. A charge which, 
if it was not absurd in itself, was signally refuted by 
his conduct of the War, by his organization of the 
War Department, by his negociations as Secretary of 
State, by his frequent, minute, and accurate, and 
powerful elucidations of all the financial, commercial, 
manufacturing and agricultural operations of the coun- 
try — in short, by the whole course of his labour, from 
the commencement to the close of his career. It 
was the remarkable characteristic of the Greek mind, 
now too little appreciated, to be at once practical and 
speculative, as in fact it ever has been of all really 
great minds. In the palmiest days of Greece her 
Philosophers were Statesmen, her Poets and Historians 
were Warriors. The Astronomer who first predicted 
an eclipse made a fortune by dealing in olives. To a 
successful Usurper we owe the collection of the scat- 
tered songs of Homer. The mere practitioner is, 
necessarily, a quack in medicine, a pettifogger in law, 
and a charlatan in politics. 

The colloquial powers of Mr. Calhoun have been 
highly lauded. In this there is a mistake. Strictly 
speaking he had no uncommon endowment of this 
sort. It is true that he entered readily and easily into 
any conversation, and there were few subjects on which 



295 

he did not tlirow new liglit, or at least dissipate some 
of the darkness that might surround them. But he 
exhibited no sparkling wit, no keen retort, none of that 
liveliness of fancy which so delightfully season and refine 
familiar conversation. Nor was he anything of a racon- 
teur. All these things he occasionally enjoyed with 
much zest, but rarely attempted them himself. The 
conversation in which he really shone was but a modi- 
fied species of Senatorial debate. And, in that, no one 
approached to an equality with him. In the Senate, 
where time is given for preparation, and the conflict of 
intellect is conducted, for the most part, like a can- 
nonade, by heavy discharges at considerable intervals, 
his opponents might make a show of vigorous combat 
with him. But, in the close encounter of informal 
discussion, there was no one who could stand before 
him. The astonishing rapidity of his intellectual 
operations enabled him to anticipate every proposition 
before it was half stated, to resolve it into all its parts, 
and not only to answer his opponent without an instant's 
hesitation, but to take up his whole train of argument, 
run throuQ^h it in advance of him, and so turn all his 
points as to convince, or at least, to silence him. At 
these times there was a fascination about him which 
none could resist. It was not merely his warmth, 
his earnestness, his deep sincerity that charmed, 
but his reasoning — commencing so far back, and dis- 
entangling the first elements, the facts and principles — 
moved forward with such simplicity and ease, such 
clearness and connection, with a sweep so "graceful, 
yet so broad and powerful, that you felt as though you 
were listening rather to a narrative than to an ai'gu- 
ment. There were rarely any tropes or figures, or 



296 

learned illustrations, but your very passions were en- 
listed by the ardor and intenseness of his logic, and 
you were carried unresistingly along, as well by the 
force of your imagination as by the convictions of 
your judgment. The power which he thus exercised 
was so transcendant that, could he have seen and con- 
versed with every individual in the Union, he would 
have reigned supreme over public opinion. 

The fame of Mr. Calhoun will rest chiefly on his 
character as a Statesman. Posterity, with a knowledge 
of events yet concealed from us, will analj^se it closely. 
It is believed that it will stand the most rigid 
scrutiny. 

So many qualifications are necessary to the forma- 
tion of Statesmen, and so rare a combination of all the 
highest moral and mental qualities is requisite to con- 
stitute one of the first order, that they are usually 
rated rather by degrees of ability, than by the pecu- 
liarities of talent. Such peculiarities, however, do 
exist, and so color their current opinions, that they are 
in all countries classed, at least temporarily, according 
to the domestic parties whose views they favor for the 
time. In this country, where every thing is so new 
and variable ; where not only our political institutions 
are experimental, but our civilization has not attained 
a permanent standard, there is great difficulty in 
appropriating distinctive names to our Statesmen — a 
difficulty enhanced by the fact that nearly or quite all 
of our eminent men have, in the course of their 
careers, radically changed some of their opinions; 
changes which, indeed, few of the great Statesmen of 
any country, in the last eighty eventful years, have 
escaped. 



297 

Coming into the public councils at a period when 
twenty years of successful experiment had, it was 
thought, fully tested our Federal Constitution, and 
established the permanence of the Federal Govern- 
ment — when a vigorous effort to convert it into a cen- 
tral despotism had been signally defeated, and all sec- 
tional jealousies and apprehensions had been lulled, 
Mr. Calhoun devoted himself wholly, and enthusiasti- 
cally, to the grand purpose of developing all the 
mighty resources of his country, and raising her to 
the highest pitch of prosperity and greatness. His 
views were large — far reaching — noble. And his mea- 
sures were in full accordance with them. Whenever 
in war or in peace, an exigency occurred, his active 
and inventive genius promptly suggested a provision 
for it, always ample, and usually the best that could 
be adopted. Whenever favoring circumstances in- 
vited a forward movement, or a wider exertion of 
energy, he was ever ready with plans, thoroughly 
digested, and fully adapted to accomplish all the ends 
in view. While close in his calculations, and careful 
of details, there was nothing low or narrow in any 
thing he ever proposed. He had an ineffiible scorn 
for whatever was mean or contracted in legislation ; 
and having an abiding confidence, not only in truth 
and justice, but in the power of reason, and the capa- 
city of the people to appreciate what was right and 
comprehend the arguments in favor of it, he never for 
a moment yielded to the current popular opinion, when 
it differed from his own. He expected to restrain it 
by his logic, and ultimately reverse it by the benefits 
his measures would confer. As a progressive States- 
man, leading ardently, during the first part of his 



298 

career the very van of Progress, Mr. Calhoun may be 
considered a perfect model. 

When, however, a few years of peace had devel- 
oped in this new and rapidly growing country— what 
it has taken thirty centuries to make manifest in older 
and more closely cemented social fabrics — that Gov- 
ernments and Constitutions are more severely tried by 
the conflicts of domestic than of foreign interests, and 
ambition; and it became evident that our Govern- 
ment was to be perverted and our Constitution set 
aside, to enable one section of this Confederacy to 
desj^oil another — then Mr. Calhoun became a Conser- 
vative Statesman. He saw that, in common with the 
founders of the Republic, he had been deceived in his 
belief that the Constitution had been consecrated by a 
quarter of a century of successful operation, and that 
all danger of a central despotism had passed by. He 
saw, what many in all countries have been too slow 
in seeing, that there is a Progress which, like " vault- 
ing ambition, overleaps itself.'' He recoiled from the 
operation of machinery he had himself helped to put 
in motion ; and he now ardently devoted all his talents 
and all liis energy to arrest the march of usurpation 
and corruption, and to preserve the liberties and in- 
stitutions inherited from our fathers. 

But merely negative and stolid conservatism did 
not at all suit the genius of Mr. Calhoun, which was 
essentially active and ever looking forward to the 
improvement of mankind. He sought, therefore, ear- 
nestly, to discover the principles and theory of Move- 
ment that might be onward and unfailing — yet regular 
and safe. In accomplishing this task, he sounded anew 
the depths of human nature ; he reviewed the whole 



299 

science of politics ; lie analysed the Constitution word 
by word — its letter and its spirit; and he studied 
thoroughly the workings of our Government. The 
result was that he lifted himself above all parties, and 
became a Philosophical Statesman — the only true and 
real Statesman. And it was in the wide and exhaust- 
less field now opened to him, that he gathered those 
immortal laurels, whose verdure shall delight, whose 
blossoms shall refresh, whose fruit shall be the food of 
the latest posterity. 

The example of his noble efforts to reform the 
Government and to restore the Constitution of his 
country, distinguished by the display of the vastest 
resources and the most masterly powers of intellect — 
though like Agis, and Couon and the younger Brutus, 
he failed in his glorious designs — will live forever. 
But his speeches and writings will constitute a new 
epoch in the science of Politics. Our Federal Con- 
stitution, he often said, was in advance of the wisdom 
of those who framed it ; and he it was who first thor- 
oughly explored, comprehended, and expounded it. 
He found in it nearly all that was requisite to estab- 
lish, on the firmest foundations, a free and popular 
Government, which was his beau ideal of Govern- 
ment ; and which, though it has had many friends and 
many martyrs, and has been illustrated by patriots and 
heroes, has scarcely before had a genuine Apostle. 
He laid down, for the first time, its true principles and 
marked out its true limits; and has shown how it 
might, and unless vigilantly watched, eventually would 
depart from those principles and limits, and produce 
all those evils which have so long made it odious to the 
best and wisest men. He has shown on the other 



300 

haud liow capable it is of luilimited expansion, to 
meet all the exigencies and reap all the benefits of 
real progress — if its power is confided to the proper 
majorities and their suffrages collected in the proper 
manner; and how its harmony may be kept undis- 
turbed and its duration made perpetual, by securing 
to the minorities the sacred and all-important right of 
self-protection. In short, he has so thoroughly ehici- 
dated all the checks and balances of Free Constitu- 
tions — simple and confederated — that henceforth, in 
the long tide of time, no Republic will be erected or 
reformed on a durable foundation, without a constant 
recurrence to the theories he has discussed, and the 
measures he has proposed ; and a profound observance 
of the precepts he has taught. 

I have endeavored to ]ioint out the most prom- 
inent events in the life of Mr. Calhoun : the parts he 
took in public affairs; the services he rendered his 
country ; the policy and views by which he was at 
various periods influenced. I have also endeavored to 
ponrtray the most striking features of his moral and 
intellectual character ; and have briefly reviewed his 
Statesmanship. My task is executed, however feebly 
and imperfectly. It would be vain to attempt to 
fathom the Divine Will, and seek to learn why, in 
this most eventful period of our history, our Great 
Leader has been snatched away, leaving no one behind 
who can fill his place. What we do know is, that 
high and sacred duties have devolved on us; and 
imitating his illustrious example, we should go for- 
ward in the performance of them with "unshaken 
confidence in the Providence of God." 



SPEECH 

ON THE ADMISSION OF KANSAS, UNDER THE LECOMPTON CONSTITU- 
TION. DELIVERED IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, MARCH 

4, 1858. 

The Senate, as in Committee of the Whole, having 
under consideration the bill for the admission of the 
State of Kansas in the Union — Mr. Hammond said : 

Mr. President : In the debate which occurred in 
the early part of the last month, I understood the 
Senator from Illinois (Mr. Douglas) to say that the 
question of the reception of the Lecompton Constitu- 
tion was narrowed down to a single point. Tliat point 
was, whether that constitution embodied the will of 
the people of Kansas. Am I correct ? 

Mr. Douglas. The Senator is correct, with this 
qualification : I could waive the irregularity and agree 
to the reception of Kansas into the Union under the 
Lecompton Constitution, provided I was satisfied that 
it was the act and deed of that people, and embodied 
their will. There are other objections; but the others 
I could overcome, if this point were disposed of 

Mr. Hammond. I so understood the Senator. I 
understood that if he could be satisfied that this Con- 
stitution embodied the will of the people of Kansas, 



302 

all otlier defects and irregularities could "be cured by 
tlie act of Congress, and that lie himself would be 
willing to permit sucli an act to be passed. 

Now, sir, the only question is, how is that will to 
be ascertained, and upon that point, and that only, 
shall we differ. In my opinion the will of the people 
of Kansas is to be sought in the net of her lawful con- 
vention elected to form a Constitution, and no where 
else ; and that it is unconstitutional and dangerous to 
seek it elsewhere. I think that the Senator fell into 
a fundamental error in his report dissenting from the 
rej^ort of the majority of the territorial committee, 
when he said that the convention which framed this 
Constitution was " the creature of the Territorial 
Legislature ; " and from that one error has probably 
arisen all his subsequent errors on this subject. 

How can it be possible that a convention should 
be the creature of a Territorial Legislature ? The 
convention was an assembly of the people in their 
highest sovereign capacity, about to perform their 
highest possible act of sovereignty. The Territorial 
Legislature is a mere provisional government ; a petty 
corporation, appointed and paid by the Congress of 
the United States, without a particle of sovereign 
power. Shall such a body interefere with a sov- 
ereignty — inchoate, but still a sovereignty ? Why, 
Congress cannot interfere ; Congress cannot con- 
fer on the Territorial Legislature the power to inter- 
fere. Congress itself is not sovereign. Congress has 
sovereign powers, but no sovereignty. Congress has 
no power to act outside of the limitations of the Con- 
stitution ; no right to carry into effect the Supreme 
Will of any people, and, therefore, Congress is not 



303 

sovereign. Nor does Congress liold the sovereignty 
of Kansas. The sovereignty of Kansas resides, if it 
resides anywhere, with the sovereign States of this 
Union. They have conferred upon Congress, among 
other powers, that to administer such sovereignty to 
their satisfaction. They have given Congress the 
power to make needful rules and regulations regarding 
the Territories, and they have given it power to ad- 
mit a State — " admit^'' not create. Under these tAvo 
powers, Congress may first establish a provisional 
territorial government merely for municipal purposes ; 
and when a State has grown into rightful sovereignty, 
when that sovereignty which has been kept in abey- 
ance demands recognition, when a community is 
formed there, a social compact established, a sov- 
ereignty born as it were on the soil, then to Congress is 
granted the power to acknowledge it, and the Legis- 
lature, only by mere usage, sometimes neglected, assists 
at the birth of it by passing a precedent resolution 
assembling a convention. 

But when that convention assembles to form a 
Constitution, it assembles in the highest known capaci- 
ty of a j^eople, and has no superior in this Government 
but a State sovereignty; or rather only the State 
sovereignties of all the States, acting by their estab- 
lished Constitutional agent the General Government, 
can do anything with the act of that convention. 
Then if that convention was lawful, if there is no 
objection to the convention itself, there can be no 
objection to the action of the convention ; and there 
is no power on earth that has a right to inquire, out- 
side of its acts, whether the convention represented 
the will of the people of Kansas or not, for a couveu- 



504 

tion of the people is, according to the theory of our 
Government, for all the purposes for which the people 
elected it, the people, hona fide, being the only way in 
wdiicli all the people can assemble and act together. 
I do not doubt that there might l^e some cases of such 
gross and paljjable frauds committed in ihe formation 
of a convention, as might authorize Congress to investi- 
gate them, but I can scarcely conceive of any. And 
when a State knocks at the door for admission. Con- 
gress can with propriety do little more than inquire if 
her Constitution is republican. That it embodies the 
will of her j)eople must necessarily be taken for 
granted, if it is their lawful act. I am assuming, of 
course, that her boundaries are settled, and her pop- 
ulation sufficient. 

If what I have said be correct, then the will of 
the people of Kansas is to be found in the action 
of her constitutional convention. It is immaterial 
whether it is the will of a majority of the people of 
Kansas now^ or not. The convention was, or might 
have been, elected by a majority of the people of 
Kansas. A convention, elected in June, might well 
frame a Constitution that would not be aorreeable to a 

O 

majority of the people of a new State, rapidly filling 
up, in the succeeding January ; and if Legislatures are 
to be allowed to put to vote the acts of a convention, 
and have them annulled by a subsequent influx of 
immigrants, there is no finality. If you were to send 
back the Lecompton Constitution, and another was to 
be framed, in the slow way in which we do public 
business in this country, before it would reach Con- 
gress and be accepted, perhaps the majority Avould T)e 
turned the other way. Whenever you go outside of 



305 

the regular forras of law and constitutions to seek for 
the will of the peoj^le you are wandering in a wilder- 
ness — a wilderness of thorns. 

If this was a minority constitution I do not know 
that that would be an objection to it. Constitutions 
are made for minorities. Perhaps minorities ought to 
have the right to make constitutions, for they are ad- 
ministered by majorities. The Constitution of this 
Government was made l)y a minority, and as late as 
1840 a minority had it in their hands, and could have 
altered or abolished it; for, in 1840, six out of the 
twenty-six States of the Union held the numerical 
majority. 

The Senator from Illinois has, upon his view of the 
Lecompton Constitution and the present situation of 
aftairs in Kansas, raised a cry of " popular sovereignty." 
The Senator from New York (Mr. Seward) jesterday 
made himself facetious about it, and called it, "squatter 
sovereignty." There is a popular sovereignty which 
is the basis of our Government, and I am unwilling 
that the Senator should have the advantai^e of con- 
founding it with " squatter sovereignty." In all coun- 
tries and in all time, it is well understood that the 
numerical majority of the people could, if they chose, 
exercise the sovereignty of the country ; but for want 
of intelligence, and for want of leaders, they have 
never yet been able successfully to combine and form 
a stable, popular government. They have often 
attempted it, but it has always turned out, instead of 
a popular sovereignty, a ])opulace sovereignty; and 
demagogues, placing themselves upon the movement, 
have invariably led them into military despotism. 

I think that the popular sovereignty which the 



306 

Senator from Illinois would derive from tlie acts of 
Lis Territorial Legislature, and from tlie information 
received from 2)artisans and partisan presses, would 
lead us directly into j)opulace, and not popular sov-- 
ereio'nty. Genuine poj^ular sovereignty never existed 
on a firm basis except in this country. The first gun 
of the Eevolution announced a new organization of it 
which was embodied in the Declaration of Indepen- 
dence, developed, elaborated, and inaugurated forever 
in the Constitution of the United States. The two 
pillars of it were Representation and the Ballot-box. 
In distributing their sovereign powers among various 
Dej^artments of the Government, the people retained 
for themselves the single power of the ballot-box ; and 
a great power it was. Through that they were able 
to control all the Departments of the Government. 
It was not for the people to exercise political power 
in detail ; it was not for them to be annoyed with the 
cares of Government ; but, from time to time, through 
the ballot-box, it was for them^ — enough — to exert their 
sovereign power and control the whole organization. 
This is popular sovereignty, the popular sovereignty 
of a legal constitutional ballot-l30x ; and when spoken 
through that box, the " voice of the people," which 
for all political purposes, " is the voice of God ; " but 
when it is heard outside of that, it is the voice of a 
demon, the tocsin of a reign of terror. 

In passing I omitted to answer a question that the 
Senator from Illinois has, I believe, repeatedly asked ; 
and that is, what were the legal powers of the Terri- 
torial Legislature after the formation and adoption of 
the Lecompton Constitution ? The Kansas Conven- 
tion had nothing to do with the Territorial Legisla- 



307 

ture, which was a provisional government almost 
without power, appointed and paid by this Govern- 
ment. The Lecompton Constituton was the act of a 
people, and the sovereign act of a people legally as- 
sembled in convention. The two bodies moved in 
different spheres and on different planes, and could 
not come in contact at all without usurpation on the 
one part or the other. It was not competent for the 
Lecompton Constitution to overturn the territorial 
government and set up a government in place of it, 
because that Constitution, until acknowledged by Con- 
gress, was nothing ; it was not in force anywhere. It 
could well require the peoj)le of Kansas to pass upon 
it or any portion of it ; it could do whatever was 
necessary to perfect that Constitution, but nothing 
beyond that, until Congress had agreed to accept it. 
In the mean time the territorial government, always a 
government ad interim^ was entitled to exercise all the 
sway over the Territory that it ever had been entitled 
to. The error of assuming, as the Senator did, that 
the convention was the creature of the territorial fov- 
ernment, has led him into the difficulty and confusion 
resulting from connecting these two governments 
together. There was no power to govern in the con- 
vention until after the adoption by Congress of its 
Constitution, and then it was of course defunct. 

As the Senator from Illinois, whom I regard as the 
Ajax Telamon of this debate, does not press the ques- 
tion of frauds, I shall have little or nothing to say 
about them. The whole history of Kansas is a dis- 
gusting one, from the beginning to the end. I have 
avoided reading it as much^as I could. Had I been a 
Senator before, I should have felt it my duty, perhaps, 



308 

to have done so ; but not expecting to be one, I am 
ignorant, fortunately, in a great measure, of details ; 
and I was glad to liear the acknowledgement of the 
Senator from Illinois, since it excuses me from the duty 
of examining them. 

I hear, on the other side of the Chamber, a great 
deal said about " gigantic and stupendous frauds ; " 
and the Senator from New York, in portraying the 
character of his party and the opposite one, laid the 
whole of those frauds upon the pro-slavery party. To 
listen to him, you would have supposed that the regi- 
ments of immigrants recruited in the purlieus of the 
great cities of the North, and sent out, armed and 
equipped with Sharpens rifles and bowie knives and re- 
volvers, to conquer freedom for Kansas, stood by, meek 
saints, innocent as doves, and harmless as lambs brought 
up to the sacrifice. General Lane's lambs ! They re- 
mind one of the famous " lamhs " of Colonel Kirke, to 
whom they have a strong family resemblance. I pre- 
sume that there were frauds ; and that if there were 
frauds, they were equally great on all sides ; and that 
any investigation into them on this floor, or by a com- 
mission, would end in nothing but disgrace to the 
United States. 

But, sir, the true object of the discussion on the 
other side of the Chamber, is to agitate the question of 
slavery. I have very great doubts whether the lead- 
ers on the other side really wish to defeat this bill. I 
think they would consider it a vastly greater victory 
to crush out the Democratic party in the North, and 
destroy the authors of the Kansas-Nebraska bill ; and 
I am not sure that they have not brought about this 
imbroglio for the very purpose. They tell us that year 



309 

after year the majority in Kansas was beaten at tlie 
polls ! They have always had a majority, but they al- 
ways get beaten ! How could that be ? It does seem, 
from the most reliable sources of information, that they 
have a majority, and have had a majority for some 
time. Why has not this majority come forward and 
taken possession of the government, and made a free- 
State constitution and brought it here ? We should all 
have voted for its admission cheerfully. There can be 
but one reason : if they had brought, as was generally 
supposed at the time the Kansas-Nebraska act was 
passed would be the case, a free-State constitution here, 
there would have been no difficulty among the north- 
ern Democrats ; they would have been sustained by 
their people. The statement made by some of them, 
as I understood, that that act was a good free-State 
act, would have been verified, and the northern Demo- 
cratic party would have been sustained. But Kansas 
coming here a slave State, it is hoped Avill kill that 
party, and that is the reason they have refrained from 
going to the polls ; that is the reason they have re- 
frained from making it a free State when they had the 
power. They intend to make it a free State as soon 
as they have effected their purpose of destroying 
by it the Democratic party at the North, and now 
their chief object here is, to agitate slavery. For 
one, I am not disposed to discuss that question here 
in any abstract form. I think the time has gone by 
for that. Our minds are all made up. I may be 
willing to discuss it — and that is the way it should be 
and must be discussed — as a ])raGtical tiling^ as a 
thing that is-, and is to he ; and to discuss its effect 
upon our political institutions, and ascertain how lono- 
20 



310 

those institutions will hold together with slavery ine- 
radicable. 

The Senator from New York entered very fairly 
into this field yesterday. I was surprised, the other 
day, when he so openly said " the battle had been 
fought and won." Althougli I knew, and had long 
known it to be true, I was surprised to hear him say so. 
I thought that he had been entrapped into a hasty ex- 
pression by the sharp rebukes of the Senator from New 
Hampshire ; and I was glad to learn yesterday that his 
words had been well considered — that they meant all 
that I thought they meant ; that they meant that the 
South is a conquered province, and that the North in- 
tends to rule it. He said that it was their intention 
" to take this Government from unjust and unfaithful 
hands, and place it in just and faithful hands ;" that it 
was their intention to consecrate all the Territories of 
the Union to free labor ; end that, to eifect their pur- 
poses, they intended to reconstruct the Supreme Court. 

'Ihe Senator said, suppose we admit Kansas with 
the Lecoiripton constitution — what guarantees are there 
that Congress will not again interfere with the affairs 
of Kansas ? meaning, I suppose, that if she abolished 
slavery, what guarantee there w^as that Congress would 
not force it upon her again. So far as we of the South 
are concerned, you have, at least, the guarantee of good 
faith that never has been violated. But what guaran- 
tee have we, when you have this Government in your 
possession, in all its departments, even if we submit 
quietly to what the Senator exhorts us to submit to — 
the limitation of slavery to its present territory, and 
even to the reconstruction of the Supreme Court — that 
you will not plunder us with tariffs ; that you will not 



311 

bankrupt us with internal improvements and bounties 
on your exports ; that you will not cramp us with navi- 
gation laws, and other laws impeding the facilities of 
transportation to southern produce? What guar- 
antee have we that you will not create a new bank, 
and concentrate all the finances of this country at the 
North, where already, for the want of direct trade and 
a proper system of banking in the South, they are 
ruinously concentrated ? Nay, what guarantee have 
we that you will not emancipate our slaves, or, at least, 
make the attempt? We cannot rely on your faith when 
you have the power. It has been always broken when- 
ever pledged. 

As I am disposed to see this question settled as 
soon as possible, and am perfectly willing to have a 
final and conclusive settlement noiv^ after what the Sena- 
tor from New York ha? said, I think it not improper 
that I should attempt to bring the North and South 
face to face, and see what resources each of us mio-ht 
have in the contingency of separate organizations. 

If we never acquire another foot of territory for the 
South, look at her. Eight hundred and fifty thousand 
square miles. As large as Great Britian, France, Aus- 
tria, Prussia and Spain. Is not that territory enouo-h. 
to make an empire that shall rule the world ? With 
the finest soil, the most delightful climate, whose staple 
productions none of those great countries can grow, we 
have three thousand miles of continental sea-shore line 
so indented with bays and crowded with islands, that, 
when their shore lines are added, we have twelve thou- 
sand miles. Through the heart of our country runs 
the great Mississippi, the fiither of waters, into whose 
bosom are poured thirty-six thousand miles of tribu- 



312 

tary rivers ; and beyond we have the desert prairie 
wastes to protect ns in onr rear. Can you hem in such 
a territory as that ? You talk of putting up a wall of 
fire around eight hundred and fifty thousand square 
miles so situated ! How absurd. 

But, in this territory lies the great valley of the 
Mississippi, now the real, and soon to be the acknowl- 
edged seat of the empire of the world. The sway of 
that valley will be as great as ever the Nde knew in 
the earlier ages of mankind. We own the most of it. 
The most valuable part of it belongs to us now ; and 
although those who have settled above us are now op- 
Dosed to us, another generation will tell a different tale. 
They are ours by all the laws of nature ; slave-labor 
will go over every foot of this great valley where it 
wdll be found profitable to use it, and some of those 
who may not use it are soon to be united with us by 
such ties as will make us one and inseparable. The 
iron horse will soon be clattering over the sunny plains 
of the South to bear the products of its upper tributa- 
ries of the valley to our Atlantic ports, as it now does 
through the ice-bound North. And there is the great 
Mississippi, a bond of union made by Nature herself. 
She will maintain it forever. 

On this fine territory we have a population four 
times as large as that with which these colonies sepa- 
rated from the mother country, and a hundred, I might 
say a thousand fold stronger. Our population is now 
sixty per cent, greater than that of the whole United 
States when we entered into the second war of inde- 
pendence. It is as large as the whole population of the 
United States was ten years after the conclusion of 
that war, and our own exports are three times as great 



813 

as those of the whole United States then. Upon our 
muster-rolls we have a million of men. In a defensive 
war, upon an emergency, every one of them would be 
av^ailable. At any time, the South can raise, equip, and 
maintain in the field, a larger army than any Power of 
the earth can send against her, and an army of soldiers 
—men brought up on horseback, with guns in their hands. 

It' we take the North, even when the two large 
States of Kansas and Minnesota shall be admitted, her 
territory will be one hundred thousand square miles 
less than ours. I do not speak of California and Ore- 
gon ; there is no antagonism between the South and 
those countries, and never will be. The population of 
the North is fifty per cent, greater than ours. I have 
nothing to say in disparagement either of the soil of 
the North, or the people of the North, who are a brave 
and energetic race, full of intellect. But they produce 
no great staple that the South does not produce ; while 
we produce two or three, and these the very greatest, 
that she can never produce. As to her men, I may be 
allowed to say, they have never proved themselves to 
be superior to those of the South, either in the field or 
in the Senate. 

But the strength of a nation depends in a great 
measure upon its wealth, and the w^ealth of a nation, 
like that of a man, is to be estimated by its surj^lus 
production. You may go to your trashy census books, 
full of falsehood and nonsense — they tell you, for ex- 
ample, that in the State of Tennessee, the whole num- 
])er of house-servants is not equal to that of those in 
my own house, and such things as that. You may es- 
timate what is made throughout the country from these 
census books, but it is no matter how much is made if 



314 

it is all consumed. If a man possess millioDS of dollars 
and consumes his income, is lie rich ? Is he competent 
to embark in any new enterprise ? Can he long build 
ships or railroads? And could a people in that condi- 
tion build ships and roads or go to war without a fatal 
strain on capital ? All the enterprises of peace and war 
depend upon the surplus productions of a people. They 
may be happy, they may be comfortable, they may 
enjoy themselves in consuming what they make ; but 
they are not rich, they are not strong. It appears, by 
going to the reports of the Secretary of the Treasury, 
which are authentic, that last year the United States 
exported in round numbers $279,000,000 worth of do- 
mestic produce, excluding gold and foreign merchan- 
dise re-exported. Of this amount |1 58,000,000 worth 
is the clear produce of the South ; articles that are not 
and cannot be made at the North. There are then 
$80,000,000 worth of exports of products of the forest, 
provisions and breadstuffs. If we assume that the 
South made but one third of these, and I think that 
is a low calculation, our exports were $185,000,000, 
leaving to the North less than $95,000,000. 

In addition to this, we sent to the North $30,000,000 
worth of cotton, which is not counted in the exports. 
We sent to her $7 or $8,000,000 worth of tobacco, 
which is not counted in the exports. We sent naval 
stores, lumber, rice, and many other minor articles. 
There is no doubt that we sent to the North $40,000,000 
in addition ; but suppose the amount to be $35,000,000, 
it will give us a surplus production of $220,000,000. 
But the recorded exports of the South now are greater 
than the whole exports of the United States in any 
year before 185G. They are greater than the whole 



315 

average exports of the United States for the last 
twelve years, includiDg the two extraordinary years 
of 1856 and 1857. They are nearly double the 
amount of the average exports of the twelve preced- 
ing years. If I am right in my calculations as to 
$220,000,000 of surplus produce, there is not a nation 
on ^the face of the earth, with any numerous popula- 
tion, that can compete with us in produce per caiyita. 
It amounts to $1^ 66 per head, supposing that we 
have twelve millions of people. England with all her 
accumulated wealth, with her concentrated and edu- 
cated energy, makes but sixteen and a half dollars of 
surplus production per head. I have not made a cal- 
culation as to the Noi-th, with her $95,000,000 surplus ; 
admitting that she exports as much as we do, with 
her eighteen millions of population it would be but 
little over twelve dollars a head. But she cannot 
export to us and abroad exceeding ten dollars a head 
against our sixteen dollars. I know well enough that 
the North sends to the South a vast amount of the 
productions of her industry. I take it foi- granted that 
she, at least, pays us in that way for the thirty or forty 
million dollars worth of cotton and other articles we 
send her. I am wilHng to admit that she sends us 
considerably more ; but to bring her up to our amount 
of surplus pi'oduction — to bring her up to $220,000,000 
a year, the South must take from her $125,000,000 ; 
and this, in addition to our shai'e of the consumption 
of the $333,000,000 worth inti'oduced into the counti-y 
from abroad, and paid for chiefly by our own exports. 
The thing is absurd ; it is impossible ; it can never 
appear anywhere but in a book of statistics, oi' a Con- 
gress speech. 



316 

With an expoi-t of $220,000,000 under the present 
tariff, the South organized separately would have 
$40,000,000 of revenue. With one-fourth the present 
tariff, she would have a revenue with the present 
tariff adequate to all her wants, for the South would 
never go to war ; she would never need an army or a 
navy, beyond a few garrisons on the frontiers and a 
few revenue cutters. It is commerce that breeds war. 
It is manufiictures that require to be hawked about 
the world, and that give rise to navies and commerce. 
But we have nothing to do but to take off restrictions 
on foreign merchandise and open our ports, and the 
whole world will come to us to trade. They will be 
too glad to bring and cai-ry us, and we never shall 
dream of a war. Why the South has never yet 
had a just cause of war except with the North. 
Every time she has drawn her sword it has been on 
the point of honor, and that point of honor has been 
mainly loyalty to her sister colonies and sister States, 
who have ever since plundered and calumniated her. 

But if there were no other reason why we should 
never have war, would any sane nation make war on 
cottonl^ Without firing a gun, without drawing a 
sword, should they make war on us we could bring 
the whole world to our feet. The South is perfectly 
competent to go on, one, two, or three years without 
planting a seed of cotton. I believe that if she was 
to plant but half her cotton, for three years to come, 
it would be an immense advanta^ce to her. I am not 
so sure but that after three years' entire abstinence she 
would come out stronger than ever she was before, and 
better prepared to enter afi-esh upon her great career 
of enterprise. What would happen if no cotton was 



317 

furnished for three years ? I will not stop to depict 
what every one can imagine, but this is certain: Eng- 
land w^ould topple headlong and carry the whole 
civilized world with hei', save the South. No, you 
dare not make war on cotton. No power on earthy 
dares to make war npon it. Cotton is king. Until 
lately the Bank of England was king ; but she tried to 
put her screws as usual, the ftxll before the last, upon 
the cotton crop, and was uttei'ly vanquished. The 
last power has been conquered. Who can doubt, that 
has looked at recent events, that cotton is supreme? 
When the abuse of credit had destroyed credit and 
annihilated confidence ; when thousands of the strong- 
est commercial houses in the world were coming down, 
and hundreds of millions of dollars of supposed prop- 
erty evaporating in thin air ; when you came to a dead 
lock, and revolutions were threatened, w^hat brought you 
up ? Fortunately for you it was the commencement of 
the cotton season, and we have poured in upon you one 
million six hundred thousand bales of cotton just at the 
crisis to save you from destruction. That cotton, but for 
the bursting of your speculative bubVdes in the North, 
which produced the whole of this convulsion, would 
have brought us |100,000,000. We have sold it for 
$65,000,000, and saved you. Thirty-five million dollars 
we, the slaveholders of the South, have put into the 
charity box for your magnificent financiers, your " cot- 
ton lords," your " merchant princes." 

But, sir, the greatest strength of the South arises 
from the harmony of her political and social institu- 
tions. This harmony gives her a frame of society, the 
best in the world, and an extent of political freedom, 
combined with entire security, such as no other people 



318 

ever enjoyed upon tlie face of the earth. Society 
precedes government ; creates it, and ought to control 
it ; but as far as we can look back in historic times 
we find the case different; for government is no sooner 
created than it becomes too strong for society, and 
shapes and moulds, as well as controls it. In later 
centuries the progress of civilization and of intelli- 
gence has made the divergence so great as to produce 
civil wars and revolutions; and it is nothing now but 
the want of harmony between governments and soci- 
eties which occasions all the uneasiness and trouble 
and teri'or that we see abroad. It was this that 
brou2:ht on the American Revolution. AVe threw off 
a Government not adapted to our social system, and 
made one for ourselves. The question is, how far have 
we succeeded ? The South, so fiir as that is concerned, 
is satisfied, harmonious, and prosperous, but demands 
to be let alone. 

In all social systems there must be a class to do 
the menial duties, tO' perform the drudgery of life. 
That is, a class requiring but a low order of intellect 
and but little skill. Its requisites are vigoi", docility, 
fidelity. Such a class you must have, or you would 
not have that other class which leads progress, civiliza- 
tion, and refinement. It constitutes the very mud-sill 
of society and of political government; and you might 
as well attempt to build a house in the air, as to build 
either the one or the other, except on this mud-sill. 
Fortunately for the South, she found a race adapted 
to that purpose to her hand. A race inferior to her 
own, but eminently qualified in temper, in vigor, in 
docility, in capacity to stand the climate, to answer all 
her purposes We use them for our pui-pose, and call 



319 

them slaves. We found them slaves by the common 
" consent of mankind," which, according to Cicero, " lex 
naturcB est^ The highest proof of what is Nature's 
law. We are old-fashioned at the South yet ; slave is 
a word discarded now by "ears polite;" I will not 
characterize that class at the North by that term ; but 
you have it ; it is there ; it is everywhere ; it is eternal. 
The Senator from New York said yesterday that 
the whole world had abolished slavery. Aye, the 
name^ but not the tiling ; all the powers of the earth 
cannot abolish that. God only can do it when he 
repeals \\\q fiat^ "the poor ye always have with you ;" 
for the man who lives by daily labor, and scarcely 
lives at that, and who has to put out his labor in the 
market, and take the best he can get for it ; in short, 
your whole hireling class of manual laborers and "ope^ 
ratives," as you call them, are essentially slaves. The 
difference between us is, that our slaves are hired for 
life and w^ell compensated ; there is no starvation, no 
begging, no want of employment among oui' people, 
and not too much employment either. Youi*s are hired 
by the day, not cared for, and scantily compensated, 
which may be proved in the most painful manner, at 
any hour in any street in any of your large towns. 
Why, you meet more beggars in one day, in any 
single street of the city of New York, than you would 
meet in a lifetime in the whole South. We do not 
aink that whites should be slaves either by law or 
necessity. Our slaves are black, of another and in- 
ferior race. The status in which we have placed them 
is an elevation. They are elevated from the condition 
in which God first created them, by being made our 
slaves. None of that race on the whole face of the 



320 

globe can be compared with the slaves of the South. 
They are happy, content, unaspiring, and utterly in- 
capable, from intellectual weakness, ever to give us 
any trouble by their aspirations. Yours are white, of 
your own race ; you are brothers of one blood. They 
are your equals in natural endowment of intellect, 
and they feel galled by their degradation. Our slaves 
do not vote. We give them no political power. 
Yours do vote, and, being the majority, they are the 
depositaries of all your political power. If they knew 
the tremendous secret, that the ballot-box is stronger 
than " an army with banners," and could combine, 
where would you be ? Your society would be recon- 
structed, your government overthrown, your property 
divided, not as they have mistakenly attempted to 
initiate such proceedings by meeting in parks, with 
arms in their hands, but by the quiet process of the 
ballot-box. You have been making war upon us to 
our very hearthstones. How would you like for us to 
send lecturers and agitators North, to teach these 
people this, to aid in combining, and to lead them ? 

Mr. Wilson and others. Send them along. 

Mr. Hammond. You say send them along. There 
is no need of that. Your people are awaking. They 
are coming here. They are thundering at our doors 
for homesteads, one hundred and sixty acres of land 
for nothing, and Southern Senators are supporting 
them. Nay, they are assembling, as I have said, with 
arras in their hands, and demanding work at $1,000 
a year for six hours a day. Have you heard that the 
ghosts of Mendoza and Torquemada are stalking in 
the streets of your great cities ? That the inquisition 
is at hand ? There is afloat a fearful rumor that there 



321 

have been consultations for Vigilance Committees. 
You know what that means. 

Transient and temporary causes have thus far been 
your preservation. The great West has been open to 
your surplus population, and your hordes of semi- 
barbarian immigrants, who are crowding in year by 
year. They make a great movement, and yon call it 
progress. Whither ? It is progress ; but it is pro- 
gress towards Vigilance Committees. The South have 
sustained you in a great measure. You are our factors. 
You fetch and carry for us. One hundred and fifty 
million dollars of our money passes annually through 
your hands. Much of it sticks ; all of it assists to keep 
your machinery together and in motion. Suppose we 
were to discharge you ; suppose we were to take our 
business out of your hands ; — we should consign you 
to anarchy and poverty. You complain of the rule 
of the South ; that has been another cause that has 
preserved you. We have kept the Government con- 
servative to the great purposes of the Constitution. 
We have placed it, and kept it, upon the Constitution ; 
and that has been the cause of your peace and pros- 
perity. The Senator from New York says that that 
is about to be at an end ; that you intend to take the 
Government from us; that it will pass from our hands 
into yours. Perhaps what he says is true; it may be ; 
but do not forget — it can never be forgotten — it is 
written on the brightest page of human history — that 
we, the slaveholders of the South, took our country in 
her infancy, and, after ruling her for sixty out of the 
seventy years of her existence, we surrendered her to 
you without a stain upon her honor, boundless in 



322 



prosperity, incalculable in her strenglh, the wonder 
and the admiration of the world. Time will show what 
yon will make of her; but no time can diminish our 
glory or your responsibility. 



SPEECPI 

DELIVERED AT BARNWELL C. II., S. C, OCTOBER 29, 1858. 

I thank you very sincerely for tliis kind and cor- 
dial reception. To stand here and speak to the people 
of Barnwell reminds me of times long gone by. I have 
addressed you, I believe, but once in more than twenty 
years. But those were stirring times, when, a quarter 
of a century ago, I so often spoke to you here of the 
Constitution and the Union — of your rights an 1 wrongs 
in this Confederacy. No, not you, but yoar fathers. 
I am, indeed, happy to recognize in this assemblage 
many who were actors in those scenes ; but many, many 
more, have been summoned hence, while you, my young 
friends, have grown up to supply their places. The 
galhint spirits who then surrounded me here, and whose 
kindling eyes and heaving bosoms animated and re- 
sponded to my speech, have for the most part passed 
away, but the theme is still the same ; and it is my part 
to-day, adhering with unchanged conviction and una- 
bated zeal to every principle I then maintained, to dis- 
course upon the same great topics. Our battle then was 
for the Constitution and our rights, in the Union, if 
possible — out of it, if need be. And this is our battle 
now. 



324 

The lapse of thirty years has brought much expe- 
rience to the survivors of those who enlisted for this 
great cause in Soutli Carolina. The veil of what was 
then the future — a future covered with angry clouds 
and doubts and darkness — has been removed, and look- 
ing back, we now see the events of long years which 
were then unknown to us. The hard-fought fields; 
our chequered fortunes ; our victories, our defeats ; 
the dead ; the living — all then deep buried in the womb 
of time, are now all clear and palpable. And to those 
of us who have been spared to make this retrospect, it is 
a proud satisfaction to know that time and events have 
proved that our principles were true and our cause 
just; to recognize the unflinching courage and wonder- 
ful ability with which they have been so long main- 
tained, and to feel renewed assurance that they must 
finally and fully triumph. 

Your fathers confided in me from the fi.rst moment 
that we met upon this spot. 1 hey took me in their 
arms and lifted me into all the high places that were 
within their reach ; and I have had many proofs that 
they taught you to confide in me as they had done. 
For this great and generous and abiding confidence and 
trust, I never knew but one reason, and that was that 
I always told them the truth, according to my best 
knowledge and belief And as I dealt with them, I 
shall deal with you. 

The last Legislature of the State conferred on me 
the high honor of a seat in the Senate of the United 
States; and during the late stormy session of Congress, 
I in part represented you there. You will expect me 
to give you some account of the proceedings there, and 
most especially of those which occupied four-fifths of 



325 

time of the session, and produced such great excitement 
throughout the country — ^I allude to the Kansas ques- 
tion. And as no exception has been taken, so far as 1 
know, to any act of mine, save my course on that, I 
will take this occasion to give my views in full upon it. 

When, four years ago, the Kansas and Nebraska act 
was passed, giving governments to those Territories, I 
was, like most of you, a private citizen. I was earnestly 
eng-aored in renovating; old lands, and creatine^ new out 
of morasses hitherto impenetrable, and I had as little 
desire or expectation of ever again taking a part in 
public affairs, as the least ambitious of you here present. 
I made up my mind that this bill was fraught with de- 
lusion and trouble to the South, and so expressed my- 
self on all suitable occasions. 

The bill had two leading features in it. It enacted 
that every Territory, in forming its constitution for 
the purpose of applying for admission into the Union, 
should have the right to establish its own organic or 
constitutional laws, and come in with its own institu- 
tions, wdth the single condition that they should be re- 
publican. Why, unless our constitution is mere waste 
paper, all our institutions shams, and our theory of self- 
government a fallacy, this principle and privilege is 
their essence — lies at the bottom of the whole, and 
constitutes the corner-stone. It is the very right for 
which our fathers fought and made a revolution. I 
might not have refused to reaffirm it, but it was super- 
erogatory ; it might well weaken the whole structure 
of the Government to dig up, for the mere purpose of 
verification, its foundation. 

The other feature of the bill was the repeal of the 
Missouri Compromise line. That was already repealed ; 
21 



326 

it had long fulfilled its mission ; it had calmed the 
troubled waters for a time ; it was obsolete until the 
annexation of Texas, when we acceded to the demand 
to extend it through the northern deserts of that State. 
But when California came — California that should have 
been and may yet be a slave State — and we demanded 
to extend that line to the Pacific and thus secure for 
the South a portion of the magnificent territory pur- 
chased in great part by her blood and treasure, it was 
refused. Then that line was blotted out everywhere 
and forever. To repeal it was a mere formality. The 
Supreme Court has recently pronounced it unconstitu- 
tional, and so the repeal was in no respect of any im- 
portance. 

But this bill, with these two features, neither of them 
of any practical importance, magnified and exagger- 
ated by orators and newspapers into a great Southern 
victory, led the South into the delusion that Kansas 
might be made a slave State, and induced it to join in 
a false and useless issue, which has kept the whole 
country in turmoil for the last four years, and gave 
fresh life and vigor to the Abolition party. 

Through the most disgusting as well as tragic scenes 
of fraud and force, the Territory of Kansas at length 
came before Congress for admission as a State, with 
what is known as the Lecompton Constitution, em- 
bodying slavery among its provisions. But at the same 
time the Convention, by an ordinance, demanded of 
the United States some twenty-three millions of acres 
of laud, instead of the four millions usually allowed 
to new States containing public lands. It was almost 
certain that a majority of the people of Kansas were 
opposed to this constitution, but would not vote on it ; 



327 

and this additional nineteen millions (which, if allowed, 
would probably have kept them again from the recent 
polls) was what the South was expected to pay for 
that worthless slavery clause, which would have been 
annulled as soon as Kansas was admitted. I confess 
my opinion was that the South herself should kick that 
Constitution out of Cons^ress. But the South thous^ht 
otherwise. When the bill for its adoption was framed, 
with what is called the Green Proviso^ I sti'enuously 
objected to it, and felt very much disposed to vote 
against the whole, but again gave way to the South, 
which accepted it by acclamation. If that proviso 
meant nothing, (and so I finally interpreted it,) it was 
nonsense, and had no business there, being without 
precedent. If it could be made to mean anything, it 
must have been something wrong and dangerous. But, 
as I said, the South, f;ir and wide, took that bill. The 
House rejected it. They passed then the Crittenden 
substitute, which proposed to submit the Lecom23ton 
Constitution to a vote of the people of Kansas, and to 
accept it, if ratified by them. The Senate had pre- 
viously refused that substitute, and did so a second 
time. It then asked a committee of conference. That 
committee reported what is called the "English Bill." 
By that bill Congress accepted the Lecompton Consti- 
tution, pure and simple, without proviso. The land 
ordinance of the Lecompton Constitution (which was 
in no wise a part of the constitution, but a separate 
measure) demanded, as I have said, a donation of some 
twenty-three millions of acres of land, being nineteen 
millions more than had been given to any other land 
State. The "English Bill" cut this down to the usual 
amount of four millions of acres, and required that the 



328 

people of Kansas should ratify this modification, and 
surrender all claim to the remainder of the lands, as 
the condition of her final admission. Such a requisi- 
tion has been made on every new State, carved out of 
the public lands, that has been admitted into this Union 
— sometimes in the enabling act, and, where there was 
none, always after accepting the constitution. Go to 
the statutes of Congress, and you will find it in every 
one of them. It is the custom — it is necessary— and 
this feature in the " English Bill " w^as in accordance 
vrith strict precedent. The only difl:erence is this : that, 
usually, the Legislature of the State has been required 
to accept this compact by an irrevocable act, but in 
this case it was referred to the people of Kansas di- 
rectly. In this there was no sacrifice of principle what- 
ever, nor was it without precedent altogether ; for in 
the case of the State last before admitted, (Iowa,) this 
question had been submitted to the Legislature or the 
people, as Iowa might prefer. This is the whole sum 
and substance of this " English Bill," except that it 
further declared that unless the people of Kansas ac- 
cepted this modified ordinance, they should not be ad- 
mitted as a State until they had a population that would 
entitle them to one Eepresentative under the Federal 
apportionment. I voted for this bill ; I voted proper- 
ly; I voted no compromise ; I sacrificed no particle of 
principle or Southern interest. It is true, its phrase- 
ology is halting and bungling ; it was drawn up hastily 
and in great excitement. I objected to the wording 
of it in several passages, but I assured myself that 
nothing sinister was designed, and I voted for it, leaving 
its authors responsible for its diction on the statute 
book. I thought it preferable to the first bill the 



329 

Senate passed, and voted for it more willingly. It is 
true, some Northern Democrats who voted against the 
Senate bill voted for this, and thus it was carried. But 
was that a reason why I should not vote for it ? Does 
that prove that I sacrificed any principle ? They found 
themselves wrong, and perhaps wanted some excuse 
to retrace their steps. I was happy to assist in giving 
it to them without cost to ourselves. I was particularly 
pleased to get rid of the mysterious proviso of the first 
bill, and to require a solemn compact in regard to the 
public lands, which had not been properly provided 
for in that bill. 

The only principle involved in this whole Kansas 
affair — if an affair so rotten, from beginning to end, can 
have a principle at all — was this : Would Congress 
admit a slave State into the Union ? The Senate 
said yes. The House, by adojDting the Crittenden sub- 
stitute, said yes, if we are assured that a majority of 
the people of the State are in favor of it. For this 
substitute all the opposition voted in both Houses, so 
that every member of Congress, of all parties, first and 
last, committed themselves to the principle and policy 
that a State should be admitted into the Union, with 
or without slavery, according to the will of its own 
people — thus re enacting one feature of the Kansas and 
Nebraska bill. I should myself have been willing to 
rest there, and let Kansas rest also. Whatever there 
was of principle or honor in the matter was secured 
by the votes already given. The English bill, how- 
ever, came up in due course, and I voted for it cheer- 
fully, believing that it was better calculated than any 
that had been offered to close up this miserable 



330 

business, whicli has furnished much the most dis- 
graceful chapter, so far, in our history. 

But it is said that in submitting this land ordinance 
to a vote of the people of Kansas, Congress submitted 
also the Lecompton Constitution with its pro-slavery 
clause. If so, the passage in which it was done can 
surely be pointed out. Badly drawn up as the bill is, 
I should like to see the clause or the words that will 
justify such an assertion. If there was such a clause, 
why did not Judge Douglas and his friends vote for it ? 
Why did not the black republicans and all who voted 
for the Crittenden substitute w^hich also submitted the 
constitution, vote for this bill ? It was the very point 
they made, yet to a man they voted against it. That, 
I think, should be conclusive. 

But, then, it is said it was a virtual submission of 
the constitution to the people, because, if they refused 
to ratify the modified land ordinance, the admission 
of Kansas under the Lecompton Constitution was de- 
feated. Well, the facts are so ; I cannot and do not 
deny them. But I should like to know how that could 
by any possibility have been avoided or remedied. 
Suppose Congress had admitted Kansas without modi- 
fying anything, yielding even to her enormous "land 
grab," which embraced many more acres than there 
are in all South Carolina, I should like to know if the 
Lecompton Constitution would not still have been sub- 
mitted to the people as virtually as it was by the Eng- 
lish bill ; that is, not submitted at all, but left with 
them— an inevitable necessity. Congress could do no 
more, no less, no other w^ay. The constitution belonged 
to the people of Kansas. Congress could not withhold 
it from them a moment, nor could it make them organ- 



331 

ize under it, assemble their Legislature, assume the 
position of a State, and send Senators and Representa- 
tives to Congress against their own will. Can Congress 
coerce a State into the Union ? Then Conojress can 
coerce a State to remain in the Union, or drive a State 
out of it. Congress is omnipotent. But where are, 
then, the rights of the States ? Fortunately for us, 
the Constitution of every State and of every Territory 
asking to be a State, is not only virtually but actually 
in the hands of its people at all times and under 
all circumstances, and they cannot be divested of that 
control without the utter destruction of the Federal 
Constitution and an entire revolution. The whole 
power of Congress in the premises is exhausted when 
it accepts the Constitution without condition. 

There are some who go still further, and assert that, 
although there might be no way to avoid a submission 
of the Lecompton Constitution to the control of the 
people of Kansas, yet that the conference bill was a 
compromise of prii^ciple, inasmuch as it specifically re- 
quired them to act, and it made for them the definite 
opportunity to defeat the constitution as well as the 
ordinance. Now this is true as a fact, yet the inference 
is absurd upon its very fiice. If Congress could not 
take the Lecompton Constitution out of the hands of 
the people of Kansas, what difference did it make 
whether they voted on the ordinance in August, under 
the direction of Congress, or any other time, whether 
fixed by Congress or themselves ? August was agreed 
upon, because it was very well to set a time and let 
things end. But from August to August, again and 
forever, this constitution was in the hands of the people 
of Kansas, and they could do with it what they pleased. 



332 

True, Congress might have avoided that specific occa- 
sion and August vote by swallowing the land ordinance 
and all, and asking no security for the remainder of 
the public lands ; but Kansas could still have refused 
to organize as a State, and no power under our Consti- 
tution could have interfered. It is all words, and 
nothing more. Congress was charged with bribing 
Kansas to become a slave State. But the bribe was 
by the conference bill, four millions of acres of land 
instead of twenty-three millions. If we had given her 
the whole twenty-three millions for her useless slavery 
clause, there might have been some ground for the 
charge. Yet it would have been of no avail, for Kansas 
could, under no bribe or coercion known to our Govern- 
ment, have been compelled to accept the constitution 
or ordinance, or become a State against her own will 
at any period whatever. I will not presume that any 
one is less proficient in Constitutional lore, or is less 
conversant with the history of Congressional proceed- 
ings in the admission of new States than myself. But 
I will say that I am incapable of comprehending them 
at all if in this conference bill there was any " compro- 
mise" of southern principle or interests, any concession 
whatever by the South, any departure from the strict- 
est construction of the Constitution, or any material 
deviation from the usual practice of the Government. 

The people of Kansas have, by an overwhelming 
majority, rejected the land ordinance as modified by 
Congress, and refused to come into the Union on such 
terms. Be it so. It is what I expected — what 
I rather desired. It sorts precisely with what I felt 
when I saw Kansas thrust herself into Congress and 
demand — reeking with blood and fraud — to be enrolled 



333 

among the States. Let her stay out. I am opposed 
to her coming in before she has the requisite popula- 
tion ; not because she will be a free State, but because 
r fully approved of the prohibitory clause of the con- 
ference bill, and for that reason voted against the 
admission of Oregon. Unless in exceptional cases, 
such as that of Kansas was last winter, I do not think 
that a State should be admitted with less population 
than would entitle her to a member of the House. It 
is not just to the other States, and is not consonant 
with the theory of our government. 

But I will not detain you longer with what belongs 
to the past. The present and the future are what con- 
cerns us most. You desire to know my opinion of the 
course the South should pursue under existing circum- 
stances. I will give you frankly and fully the results 
of my observation and reflection on this all-important 
point. 

The first question is, do the people of the South 
consider the present union of these States as an evil 
in itself, and a thing that it is desirable we should get 
rid of under all circumstances? There are some, I 
know, who do. But I am satisfied that an overwhelm- 
ing majority of the South would, if assured that this 
government was hereafter to be conducted on the true 
principles and construction of the Constitution, de- 
cidedly prefer to remain in the Union, rather than 
iacur the unknown costs and hazards of setting up a 
separate government. I think I state what is true 
when I say that, after all the bitterness that has char- 
acterized our long warfare, the great body of the 
southern people do not seek disunion, and will not 
seek it as a primary object, however promptly they 



334 

may accept it as an alternative, rather than submit to 
unconstitutional abridgments of their rights. I con- 
fess that, for many years of my life, I believed that 
our only safety was the dissolution of the Union, and 
I openly avowed it. I should entertain, and without 
hesitation express the same sentiments now, but that 
the victories we have achieved and those that I think 
we are about to achieve, have inspired me with the 
hope, I may say the belief, that we can fully sustain 
ourselves in the Union and control its action in all 
great affairs. It may well be asked how I can enter- 
tain such views and expectations, when within these 
few years the South has lost her equality in the Senate, 
and the free States have at length a decided majority 
in both Houses of Congress, while this unfortunate 
Kansas contest has swept into their political graves so 
many of our ancient friends in those States, that it 
may be doubted whether they have at this moment, 
after the recent elections — the finale of the disastrous 
Kansas abortion — a majority in a single one of them; 
and there seems to be at present no prospect of our 
extending the area of slavery in any quarter. 

These facts are true, and if you will bear with me 
T will place them all in the strongest light I can before 
you — for it is of the utmost importance that we 
should at least see clearly how we stand, and what 
are our resources, in order to form an idea of what we 
can do, and how to avoid wasting our strength on 
what cannot be accomplished. The equality of the 
free and slave States has long been lost in the House ; 
by the admission of California it was lost in the Senate. 
Since then another free State has been admitted, and 
another yet has passed the Senate, and in a few years 



335 

more we shall have Kansas, Nebraska, Washington, 
New Mexico, and perhaps others, on onr roll. The 
emigration from Europe to the North, is sufficient to 
form one or more new States every year. To the 
South there is literally no emigration. We have, 
since the closing of the slave trade, added to our 
population mainly by the natural increase of onr 
people, and we have no surplus population, white or 
black, to colonize new States. We lost Kansas partly 
by our inability to colonize it, and we are perhaps yet 
to have a struggle for a portion of Texas. The idea 
then of recovering the equality of the two sections, 
even in the Senate, seems remote indeed. We have it 
proposed to re-open the African slave trade, and bring 
in hordes of slaves from that prolific region to restore 
the balance. I once entertained that idea myself, but 
on further investigation I abandoned it. I will not 
now go into the discussion of it, further than to say 
that the South is itself divided on that policy, and, 
from appearances, opposed to it by a vast majority, 
while the North is unanimously against it. It would 
be impossible to get Congress to i-e-open the trade. 
If it could be done then it would be unnecessary, for 
that result could only be brought about by such an 
entire abandonment by the North and the world of all 
opposition to our slave system, that we might safely 
cease to erect any defences for it. 

But if we could introduce slaves, where could we 
find suitable ten-itory for new slave States? The 
Indian Reserve, west of Arkansas, might make one. 
But we have solemnly guaranteed that to the rem- 
nants of the red race. Everywhere else, I believe, 
the borders of our States have reached the great 



336 

desert which separates the Atlantic from the Pacific 
States of this confederacy. No where is African 
slavery likely to flourish in the little oases of that 
Sahara of America. It is much more likely, I think, 
to go to the Pacific slope, and to the north in the 
great valley, than anywhere else outside of its present 
limits. Shall we, as some suggest, take Mexico and 
Central America to make slave States ? African sla- 
very appears to have failed there. Perhaps, and most 
probably, it will never succeed in those regions. If it 
might, what are we to do with the seven or eight mil- 
lions of hardly semi-civilized Indians, and the two or 
three millions of Creole Spaniards and mongrels who 
now hold these countries ? We would not enslave 
the Indians. Experience has proven that they are 
incapable of steady labor, and are therefore unfit for 
slavery. We would not exterminate them, even if 
that inhuman achievement would not cost asres of 
murder and incalculable sums of money. We could 
hardly think of attempting to plant the black race 
there, superior for labor as it is, though inferior per- 
haps in intellect, and expect to maintain a permanent 
and peaceful industry, such as slave labor must be, to 
be profitable, amid those idle, restless, demoralized 
children of Montezuma, scarcely more civilized, per- 
haps more sunk in superstition than in his age, and 
now trained to civil war by half a century of inces- 
sant revolution. What, I say, could we do with these 
people or these countries to add to Southern strength ? 
Nothing. Could we degrade ourselves so far as to 
annex them on equal terms, they would be sure to 
come into this Union free States all. To touch them 
in any way is to be contaminated. England and 



337 

France, I have no doubt, would gladly see us take this 
burthen on our back, if we would secure for them 
their debts and a neutral route across the Isthmus. 
Such a route we must have for ourselves, and that is 
all we have to do with them. If we cannot get it by 
negotiation or purchase, we must seize and hold it by 
force of arms. The law of nations would justify it, 
and it is absolutely necessary for our Pacific relations. 
The present condition of those unhappy States is 
certainly deplorable, but the good God holds them in 
the hollow of his hand, and will work out their proper 
destinies. 

We might expand the area of slavery by acquiring 
Cuba, where African slavery is already established. 
Mr. Calhoun, however, from whose matured opinions, 
whether on constitutional principles or southern policy, 
it will rarely be found safe to depart, said that Cuba 
was " forbidden fruit " to us, unless plucked in an 
exigency of war. There is no reasonable ground to 
suppose that we can acquire it in any other way ; and 
the war that will open to us such an occasion will be 
great and general, and bi'ing about results that the 
keenest intellect cannot now anticipate. But if we 
had Cuba, we could not make more than two or three 
slave States there, which would not restore the equili- 
brium of the North and South ; while, with the African 
slave trade closed, and her only resort for slaves to 
this continent, she would, besides crushing out our 
whole sugar culture by her competition, afford in a 
few years a market for all the slaves in Missouri, 
Kentucky and Maryland. She is, notwithstanding the 
exorbitant taxes imposed on her, capable now of ab- 
sorbing the annual increase of all the slaves on this 



338 

continent, and consumes, it is said, twenty to thirty 
thousand a year by her system of labor. Slaves 
decrease there largely. In time, under the system 
practiced, every slave iu America might be extermi- 
nated in Cuba, as were the Indians. However the 
idle African may procreate in the tropics, it yet re- 
mains to be proven, and the fticts are against the con- 
clusion that he can, in those regions, work and thrive. 
It is said Cuba is to be "Africanized" rather than the 
United States should take her. That threat, which, 
at one time was somewhat alarming, is no longer any 
cause of disquietude to the South. What have we 
lost by that ? I think we reaped some benefit ; and, 
if the slaves of Cuba were turned loose, a great sugar 
culture would grow up in Louisiana and Texas, rival- 
ling that of cotton, and diverting from it so much 
labor that cotton would rarely fall below its present 
price. 

You must not suppose, for a moment, that I am 
opposed to " the expansion of the area of African 
slavei'y." On the contrary, I believe that God created 
negroes for no other purpose than to be the " hewers 
of wood and drawers of water " — that is, to be the 
slaves of the white race ; and I wish to see them in 
that capacity on every spot on the surface of the globe 
where their labor is necessary or beneficial. Nor do I 
doubt that such will be the final j-esult. Much less 
would I oppose the acquisition of territory that would 
place the slave States on a numerical equality, and 
more, with the free States in the Union. But this 
review and scrutiny of the resources of the South 
shows, I think, pretty conclusive!}^, that we have not 
now the surplus population, nor suitable territory. 



339 

within our present reach, to create any number of 
slave States ; that to attempt it by costly, yet imprac- 
ticable and abortive, enterprises, will be to waste our 
strength to no purpose ; and that the idea of recover- 
ing the equality in voting of the slave and free States, 
vrhether on the floors of Congress or elsewhere, is 
visouary. We had better, then, I think, at once 
make up our minds, according to the i^acts, and giving 
up all bootless efforts, look every consequence of our 
position full in the face. For one, I can do so without 
dismay — without the slightest trepidation. Why, the 
South, numbering twelve millions of people, possesses 
already an imperial domain that can well support an 
hundred millions more. What does she need to seek 
beyond her borders, or what has she to fear ? With 
such a sea-coast and harbors ; such rivers, mountains and 
plains ; so full of all the precious metals, so fertile in 
soil, so genial in climate, pi'oducing in such unparalleled 
abundance the most valuable agricultural staples of 
tbe world ; capable of manufacturing to any extent ; 
and possessing the best social and industrial systems 
that have ever yet been organized — she might have 
sunk into sloth from excess of prosperity had she not 
been kept on the alert by the fierce assaults of an 
envious world. Assaults which, at one time alarmins", 
it lias been in fact scarcely more than wholesome exer- 
cise to repel ; an exercise which has made us the most 
virtuous and one of the most enlightened and most 
powerful people who now flourish on the globe. The 
South has long been undervaluing and doing great 
injustice to herself. She has been lamenting her weak- 
ness, and croaking about the dangers that beset her, 
when she might glory in her strength and hurl defiance 
to her enemies. 



340 

But it is said tliat witli a fixed and overwhelming 
free State majority against us in this Union, we must, 
in spite of all our natural advantages, dissolve the 
connection to insure our present safety and accomplish 
our proper destiny. Perhaps so. But permit me to 
suggest, not yet. The dissolution of the Union is an 
alternative that we have always at command, and for 
which we should be ever ready ; but a peaceful, pros- 
perous and powerful people- may not challenge Fate a 
day too soon. The question still remains, can the free 
States be brought to concur permanently in any line 
of policy that will subvert the Constitution, and 
seriously damage the South in this confederacy ? I do 
not believe that they can. Reckless as is political 
ambition, and insane as fanaticism ever is, I have no 
idea that the free States can be consolidated on the 
wild project of ruling the slaveholders by mere brute 
numl)ers, either through the ballot-box or by force of 
arms ; whether to emancipate our slaves, or strip us of 
the fi'uits of their labor; or to govern us with the 
mildness and paternal care due to inferiors. The ner- 
vous in the South, and the abolition demagogues of 
the North, may believe it. But when it comes to the 
actual test, if neither sober sense nor patriotism should 
prevail, the sense of danger and the love of cotton and 
tobacco would, with our northern brethren, in every 
crisis over-ride their love of nesrroes. On this I think 
you may depend, despite the insolent boasts of the 
abolitionists of what they will do when they get the 
government in their hands. The North has only to 
be made clearly sensible how far she can go, and what 
the South will not submit to. She will not trespass 
beyond that, but will content herself with the glory 



341 

of carrying the alternate biennial elections, as slie has 
just done — always leaving it to the democracy to carry 
that which makes the President. 

But I am making mere assertions. Allow me, 
then, to refer to facts to show the past power of the 
South in this Union, and the present state of the 
great questions in which she is most deeply interested. 
When, thirty years ago, we began this arduous conflict 
for the constitutional reform of this government and 
the security of the South, the South herself was 
thoroughly divided. The tariff, the bank, the internal 
improvement system, nay, even abolition itself, all had 
the sanction of a large number of our most prominent 
Southern men. If they did not all originate, they 
were all resuscitated, in that era of infatuation, when 
a southern President proclaimed that w^e were "all 
federalists, all republicans;" when Southern Statesmen 
sneered at State rights, and the Constitution became 
for the time a dead letter. 

The tariff of 1828 levied average duties of more 
than forty per cent, on all of our imports. By the 
tariff of 1857 the average of duties was reduced below 
twenty per cent. We have accomplished that much ; 
and, besides, the principle of free trade is pretty 
generally conceded now throughout the Union. It 
cannot be denied that this is a great success. I think 
the duties should be reduced still lower ; and parti- 
cularly that the discriminations against the agricultural 
interests should be abolished. But it is supposed that 
there will be a demand for their increase at the next 
session. If so, it will of course be resisted, and I trust 
successfully. Free trade is the test, the touchstone of 
free government, as monopoly is of despotism. I have 

99, 



342 

no hesitation in saying that the plantation States should 
discard any government that made a protective tariff 
its policy. They should not submit to pay tribute 
for the support of any other industrial system than 
their own, much less to make good the bubble specula- 
tions of another section of the Union. Unequal taxa- 
tion is, after all, what we have most to fear in this 
Union, and against that we must be always ready to 
adopt the most decisive measures. 

The internal improvement system was in full 
vigor in 1828. Inaugurated also by southern men, it 
absorbed all the surplus of the treasury, and being in 
its nature unlimited, it was capable of absorbing all 
the revenue that could be extorted by the highest 
possible tariff. That too, if not destroyed, has been 
checked and crippled by southern action. It is true 
that it still appears annually in Congress — but the 
once haughty brigand is now little more than a sturdy 
beggar. 

We had then, also, in full operation, a Bank of 
the United States, with branches in all our principal 
cities. It received and speculated on all the revenues 
of the government, and controlled and concentrated in 
the North all the exchanges, thus levying a per cent- 
age upon every commercial transaction of the South. 
That has been annihilated. It sleeps the sleep that 
knows no waking. But let me say that the system 
which it established still exists. Despite of its destruc- 
tion by the Federal Government and the collection of 
the revenue in specie, our exchanges still centre in the 
North, and our otherwise stable industry is still com- 
pelled to participate more or less in all the reckless 
speculations of that fanatical section — more fanatical 



343 

in its love of money than even in its devotion to 
negroes. But this is a self-imposed vassalage. Through 
the privileges which our southern legislatures have 
granted to our innumerable banks, we are made tribu- 
tary to New York, which is itself tributary to London, 
the great world centre of exchanges in our age. Thus, 
by our own acts, we j^ay double tribute, though nearly 
all the trade of the United States with England is 
based on southern products. 

Thus has the South, by her energy and ability, 
disposed of the capital grievances against which she 
protested — with almost half her public men against 
her — in 1828. During this time our opponents have 
twice wrested the government from us, and inflicted 
other injuries, but they were soon stripped of their 
power and their acts repealed. Only four times since 
the organization of this government has the North had 
possession of it, and in each case only for one term. 
The North has never united long on any policy. The 
injuries inflicted on the South have been mainly in- 
flicted by her own ambitious, factious and divided 
public men, and our history proves that no man and no 
measure has yet been strong enough to stand against 
the South when united. I believe none ever will. 

But it is thought that the abolitionists will inevita- 
bly get the power of this government permanently 
into their hands, and, backed by the o^^inion of the 
world, use it for our destruction. Let us consider the 
facts. From the time that the wise and good Las 
Casas first introduced into America the institution of 
African slavery — I say institution, because it is the 
oldest that exists, and will, I believe, survive all others 

that flourish — it has had its enemies. For a lono* 

o 



344 

while they were chiefly men of peculicar and eccentric 
religious notions. Their first practical and political 
success arose from the convulsions of the French Kev- 
olution, which lost to that empire its best colony. 
Next came the prohibition of the slave trade — the 
excitement of the Missouri Compromise in this coun- 
try, and the then deliberate emancipation of the slaves 
in their colonies by the British government in 1833-4. 
About the time of the passage of that act, the abolition 
agitation was revived again in this country, and aboli- 
tion societies were formed. I remember the time well, 
and some of you do also. And Avhat then was the 
state of opinion in the South? Washington had 
emancipated his slaves. Jefferson had bitterly de- 
nounced the system, and had done all he could to 
destroy it. Our Clays, Marshalls, Crawfords, and 
many other prominent southern men, had led off in 
the colonization scheme. The inevitable effect in the 
South was, that she believed slaveiy to be an evil — 
weakness — disgraceful — nay, a sin. She shrank from 
the discussion of it. She cowered under every threat. 
She attempted to apologiz3, to excuse herself, under 
the plea — which was true — that England had forced 
it on her ; and in fear and trembling she awaited a 
doom that she deemed inevitable. 

But a few bold sj^irits took the question up ; 
they compelled the South to investigate it anew and 
thoroughly, and what is the result ? Why, it would 
be difficult now to find a southern man who feels the 
system to be the slightest burthen on his conscience ; 
who does not, in fact, regard it as an equal advantage 
to the master and the slave, elevating both ; as wealth, 
strength and power ; and as one of the main pillars 



345 

and controlling influences of modern civiliz ition ; and 
who is not now prepared to maintain it at every 
hazard. Such have been for us the happy results of 
this abolition discussion. So far, our gain has been 
immense from this contest, savage and malignant as it 
has been. Nay, we have solved ali'eady the question 
of emancipation by this re-examination and explosion 
of the false theories of religion, philanthropy and 
political economy which embarrassed our fathers in 
their day. With our convictions and our strength, 
emancipation here is simply an impossibility to man, 
whether by persuasion, purchase or coercion. The 
rock of Gibraltar does not stand so firm on its base as 
our slave system. For a quarter of a century it has 
borne the brunt of a hurricane as fierce and pitiless as 
ever raged. At the North and in Europe they cried 
" havoc," and let loose upon us all the dogs of war. 
And how stands it now ? Why, in this identical 
quarter of a century our slaves have doubled in num- 
bers, and each slave has more than doubled in value. 
The very negro who, as a prime laborer, would have 
brought four hundred dollars in 1828, would now, 
with thirty more years upon him, sell for eight hun- 
dred dollars. What does all this mean? Why, that 
for ourselves we have settled this question of emancipa- 
tion against all the world, in theory and practice, and 
the world must accept our solution. The only inquiry 
is, how long this new found superstition will survive, 
and how far it pjay carry its votaries elsewhere? 
What changes in production, in commerce, society or 
government, it may effect ? For production, commerce, 
society and government, must yield and change 
whenever they come in contact with the great funda- 



346 

mental principle of the subordination of the inferior 
to the superior man — as made by God ; and especially 
of the colored to the white races. It is, I say, only 
througli the evils that this superstition may bring 
upon other peoples, and especially on those of the 
North and of Europe, with whom we are so closely 
connected, that the South can be materially damaged 
by it, standing as she now does, firm, assured, united. 
How, then, is it with others ? 

Permit me to say that, in my opinion, the tide of 
abolition fanaticism has begun to ebb everywhere, and 
will never rise again. When the English freed the 
negroes in their colonies, it was not wholly a senti- 
mental movement, dictated by political radicals and 
the saints of Exeter Hall. Her statesmen, in their 
ignorance, thought that what was called free labor — 
that is, " wages slavery " — would succeed in tropical 
culture as well or better than slave labor. In their 
arrogance they believed also that all the world must 
follow their exam})le in this silly scheme of abolition ; 
and that from her o^reat wealth and world-encirclinof 
colonies, the monopoly of cotton and sugar culture 
would fall into the hands of England, Nature, and 
the indomitable spirit and intellect of the South, have 
disappointed all their calculations. The South still 
flourishes, and cotton and sugar, and coffee and rice 
and tobacco, are still the heritage of the slaveholders. 

Galled by their utter dependence upon us for cot- 
ton, without the free use of which they would both 
tumble into ruin in a day, England, and France, who, 
in her frequent frenzies, at length destroyed all her 
colonies by emancipation, have ransacked the universe 
to find climes and soils adapted to the cheap growth 



347 

of this great staple. They have failed everywhere. It 
is not that the soils and climates do not exist; but 
that this and the other great agricultural staples, sugar, 
rice, tobacco, coffee, can never be produced as articles 
of wide extended commerce, except by slave labor. 
This they at length found out. But such labor they 
had repudiated everywhere. No, not everywhere. 
Not in France nor in Great Britain, where they still 
hold as sacred splendid thrones and palmy aristocracies 
amid starving laborers. Only for outside barbarians 
they ordained freedom and equality. But failing in 
all their schemes, and finding that, with all their costly 
expenditures and high sounding manifestoes, they had 
simply ruined their own colonies, and made themselves 
the vassals of the slaveholders, what have they done ? 
Why, renewed the slave trade. Not in name. Oh, 
no ! Exeter Hall and the Parliament Houses still 
thunder execrations against that ; while the colonists, 
under governmental protection, and with English 
money, wrung by taxation from her " wages slaves," 
are importing by hundreds of thousands Chinese and 
Hindoo Coolies, under conditions compared with which 
the Algerine slavery of the last century was merciful. 
They do not hold and support them as we do our 
slaves, for better, for worse, in sickness and health, in 
childhood and old age. No ; in their prime of life 
they seduce them from their homes, transport them to 
distant and unwholesome climes ; for the merest pit- 
tance of wages, consume their best years in the severest 
labors, and then turn them out to die — the direst 
slavery that brutal man has ever instituted. France, 
less sensitive — haviuo^ no Exeter Hall — embracins: the 
same scheme, resorts to Africa, and openly makes pur. 



348 

chases, for so they may be called, from slave catchers ; 
nay, she buys from the President of Liberia, the far- 
famed settlement of our own Colonization Society; 
buys the colonists, our own emancipated slaves, who, 
sick of freedom, prefer any form of slavery, and in 
their desperation do not hesitate to make their pious 
patrons in this country the laughing-stock of the whole 
world. 

Thus these two nations — France and England, 
whose adoption of this abolition crotchet alone made 
it respectable and influential — have thoroughly re- 
nounced it, practically, and almost in theory. The 
press of England, j^erhaps the greatest power of the 
world, sustains these movements ; while in France the 
newspapers are openly discussing the question of 
importing negro slaves, by name, in Algeria. I think 
it may be fairly said that in Europe abolition has run 
its course. Brougham, Palmerstcn, Russell, and all 
the old political agitators, are hanging their harps 
upon the willows. Even the son of Wilberforce, the 
Fanatic, approves of coolie slavery, which we abhor. 
But recently the British government openly surren- 
dered its claim to the right of search — a claim set up 
mainly to put down the African slave trade, and with- 
out which all attempts to do it by force will probably 
be idle. And there is nothing to surprise us in all 
this, if we are correct in our views of African slavery. 
If it be sustained by the religion of the Bible; if 
neither humanity nor sound philosophy oppose it ; if, 
as we are convinced, it is a social, political, and econo- 
mical benefit to the world, then it was inevitable that, 
sooner or later, the abolition crusade must die out — 
and why not now ? 



349 

If there is truth in what I have stated to you — ^if 
the abolition fever has neai'ly or quite exhausted itself 
in Europe — if time and facts have proved there, that 
it is an absurdity — it seems to me we should not doubt 
that its career is about to close here. Such is my 
opinion, however differently those may think who 
judge only by appearances, or take their cues from 
agitating politicians. I ask any one to tell me upon 
what measure or upon what man the abolitionists of 
this country can ever again muster their legions as 
they did in 1856 ? Kansas is squeezed dry. It stinks 
in the nostrils of all people. They can do no more 
there. Will they attempt a " cry " against the Supreme 
Court for the Dred Scott decision ? What is there in 
that to inflame popular sentiment ? It is always uphill 
business to agitate against a judiciary, but especially 
against the Supreme Court of the United States, which 
the northern people have been taught to revere as the 
bulwark of their liberties. Will they demand the 
abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia ? They 
have never been able to do much with that, though 
they have often tried. That issue is a little too practi- 
cal and too dangerous. Not many are bold enough 
to embark in it. They might as well make the 
question of disunion nakedly. Will they take up the 
abstract, and, probably, never again to be other than 
abstract, proposition of "no more slave States? *"' They 
have done that. They have already split upon it. 
The northwest will not take it, and the free States, at 
bottom, all want Cuba. They love molasses, and 
hanker after free trade with that rich island. Where, 
then, are they to go ? I cannot see. They do not 
appear to see themselves. Will any one state the 



350 

practical question, if we offer them none, — and we 
have none to offer, — on which they are next to rally 
for the conquest of the South ? The measure or the 
man ? It does seem to me that this great fire is dying 
out from want of fuel. That this crusade, as many 
crusades before, has exhausted itself, and that thei'e is 
no argument or leader that can keep it alive. They 
have had their Peter Hermits, but their Godfreys, 
their Baldwins, their lion-hearted Richards, where are 
they ? It seems that they will scarcely agree even on 
their Louis IX., who shall lead their last pious cam- 
paign and enjoy martyrdom. 

And let me say that if the abolitionists cannot 
unite the free States as a purely anti-slavery party in 
the presidential election of 1860, and fail again in 
1864, we shall never hear more of them as a political 
party ; and it is only as a political party that they are 
worthy of our notice. There always will be aboli- 
tionists — for fools, enthusiasts, men of morbid imagi- 
nations, bent on mischief or ambitious of notoriety, 
always will exist. But the abolition party in the free 
States is now almost wholly political. Da you sup- 
pose that the Se wards. Hales, Wades, Wilsons, Chases, 
and their associates, care anything for African slavery, 
or are really hostile to our system of labor, any more 
than is the President, Dickinson, Bright, Pugh, or 
Douglas ? I do not. Their object is political power. 
They have placed themselves on this spring-tide of 
fanaticism to obtain it. If it fails them — if, at the 
next presidential election, assuredly if at the two next 
— we beat them, all this party machinery will fall to 
the ground, and the Smiths, Tappans, Garrisons, and 
Parkei-s, will be left alone to their glory. 



351 

But if I am all wrong — if my facts and reasonings 
are false, and my hopes delusive — if, in 1860, they 
beat us — what then ? These are questions that may 
well be asked. And the answer is obvious. We 
must be prepared ; and the very efforts we must make 
to j^revent such results will better prepare us than any 
course we can pursue that I can see. We must be 
prepared, I say, to take care of ourselves, whatever 
may come. It is clear that the slaveholding States of 
this confederacy, whatever hazards they may choose 
to incur by remaining in alliance with a majority of 
non-slaveholders now so inflamed against them, must 
ever and at all times hold, under God, their destinies 
in their own hands. They can never permit any 
foreign or hostile power to legislate in reference to 
their peculiar industrial system, whether to abolish or 
modify, or impose undue burdens on it. Such legisla- 
tion must be resisted with all our means, and without 
regard to any consequences. If it should so happen 
that the free States of this Union, being now, and 
always to be, in a majority, do establish a political 
line between the two sections, and the two systems of 
labor, legislate upon it and maintain it, then they will 
constitute a power as foreign to us as any nation in the 
world, and we cannot submit to it. Whatever the 
weak and defenceless colonies of other countries may 
have submitted to, before these southern States will 
be placed in the condition of St. Domingo or Jamaica, 
or one at all approximating to it, they will rend this 
Union into fragments and plunge the world in ruin. 
It is in their power to do both, for the world cannot 
get on without them ; and, if ruthless fanaticism and 
brute force combine, under whatever names, and with 



352 

whatever authority, to ride them clown, they will 
carry with them the pillars of the temple of civiliza- 
tion, and force a common fute on all mankind. 

There are many who believe that some such catas- 
trophe is inevitable. It caimot be denied that from 
appearances here and elsewhere, that it is entirely pos- 
sible, and it may not be unwise for all of us to suppose 
it probable. Although I think that the ranks of our 
enemies are broken and the moral victory won, I am 
far from proclaiming that the battle is over, and that 
we have now only to gather the fruits of our success. 
Many a battle has been won and lost again, by over- 
weening confidence, by reckless pursuit, or by turning 
aside for the sake of spoil. Let us fall into none of 
these errors, for we are still in the very heat and 
turmoil of this great conflict, and all may yet be lost. 
What I wish to impress upon you is that there is hope 
for effort — triumph for union, energy and persever- 
ance. 

It has fallen upon the slaveholders of the South to 
conduct this question of African slavery to its final 
conclusion. Such is our fate. It is inevitable. Let 
us cheerfully accept and manfully perform our des- 
tined parts, and do it with no distrust of God ; with 
no misgivings of our cause or of ourselves ; with no 
panic ; no foolish attempt to fly from dangers wdiich 
cannot be avoided, which have not been proven to be 
insurmountable, and which I for one believe tbat we 
can conquer. After what has been achieved by a 
divided South, now that it is almost thoroughly united 
— now that we have a President and his Cabinet — a 
majority in both Houses of Congress — a Supreme 
Court of the United States, and still hosts of allies in 



353 

tlie free States, all substantially concuring with ns in 
our construction of the Constitution, and under its 
obligations earnestly battling with us for the main- 
tenance of our rights and interests ; we owe it to our 
country, to ourselves, to the world and to posterity, 
to cast aside all weak fears — all petty or impracticable 
issues — all mere wrangling and vituperation, personal 
and sectional, and move forward wdth the dignity of 
conscious strength and the calmness of undoubted 
courage, to the overthrow of every false theory of 
government, and every sentimental scheme for organiz- 
ing labor; carrying with us the Constitution of our 
fathers, and if we can, their Union. 

But the slave States constituting, and as I think 
forever to constitute, a numerical minority, can how- 
ever accomplish nothing in this Union, without the 
aid of faithful allies in the free States. It has been of 
late too much the habit in the South to mistrust all 
such allies — to disparage, to denounce, and drive them 
from us. Nothing could be more unwise or more 
unjust. It is distrusting the truth and justice of our 
own cause, or calumniating human nature, to doubt 
that there are in the free States thousands of sound- 
thinking, true-hearted and gallant men, who concur 
essentially in our views, and are ready to make com- 
mon cause with us. Nay, it is falsifying history and 
fact. During the late session I saw men acting cor- 
dially and vigorously with us against the positive 
instructions of their excited constituents, at the hazard 
of political martyrdom ; and in two instances, that 
martyrdom was consummated before the adjournment. 
Shall we do no honor to such men ? Shall we pay no 
tribute to such heroic devotion to truth, to justice, and 



354 

tbe Constitution ? Shall we revile them in common 
with all northern men, because many revile and some 
have betrayed us ? To be truly great, we must be 
not only just, but generous and forbearing wdth all 
mankind. Let us place ourselves in the situation of 
northern public men in this great contest, consider 
their dangers and responsibilities, and making every 
allowance for human weakness, do homage to the 
brave and faithful. 

And this leads me to say that, having never been 
a mere party politician, intriguing and wire-pulling to 
advance myself or others, I am not learned in the 
rubric of the thousand slang, unmeaning, and usually 
false party names to which our age gives birth. But 
I have been given to understand that there are to be 
two parties in the South, called " National " and 
" State Rio-hts Democrats." The word " national " hav- 
ing been carefully excluded from the Constitution by 
those who framed it, I never supposed it applicable to 
any principle or policy of our government, and having 
been surrendered to the almost exclusive use, in this 
country, of the federal consolidationists, I have ever 
myself repudiated it. But if a southern " National 
Democrat" means one who is ready to welcome into 
our ranks with open arms, and cordially embrace and 
promote according to his merits every honest free 
State man who reads the Constitution as we do, and 
will cooperate with us in its maintenance, then I 
belong to that party, call it as you may, and I should 
grieve to find a southern man who did not. 

But, on the other hand, having been all my life, 
and being still, an ardent " State rights " man — be- 
lieving "State rights" to be an essential, nay, the 



355 

essential element of tLe Constitution, and that no one 
who thinks otherwise can stand on the same constitu- 
tional platform that I do, it seems to me that I am, 
and all those with whom I act habitually, are, if de- 
mocrats at all, true " State rights democrats." Nothing 
in public affairs so perplexes and annoys me as these 
absurd party names, and I never could be interested 
in them. I could easily comprehend two great par- 
ties, standing on the two great antagonistic principles 
which ai'e inherent in all things human : the right and 
the wrong, the good and the evil, according to the 
peculiar views of each individual, and was never at a 
loss to find my side, as now, in what are known as the 
democratic and republican parties of this country. 
But the minor distinctions have, for the most part, 
seemed to me to be factitious and factious, gotten up 
by cunning men for selfish purposes, to which the true 
patriot and honest man should be slow to lend himself 
For myself, and for you while I represent you, I shall 
go for the Constitution strictly construed and faithfully 
carried out. I will make my fight, such as it may be, 
by the side of any man, whether from the North 
South, East, or West, who will do the same, and I w^ill 
do homage to his virtue, his ability, his courage, and — 
so far as I can — make just compensation for his toils 
and hazards, and sacrifices. As to the precise mode 
and manner of conducting this contest, that must ne- 
cessarily, to a great extent, depend upon the exigencies 
that arise; but of course I could be compelled, by no 
exigency, by no party ties or arrangements, to give up 
my priiiciples, or the least of those principles which 
constitute our great cause. 

K the South has any desire to remain in the 



356 

Union, and control it, as her safety requires that she 
should, in some essential particulars, if she does remain 
in it, she must conciliate her northern allies. She 
must be just, kind and true to all who are true to 
truth and to her. But if she determines, and when- 
ever she determines, to throw off her northern friends 
and dissolve this Union, I need scarcely say that I 
shall, without hesitation, go with her fully and faith- 
fully. I do not for a moment doubt that, in or out of 
this TTnion, she can sustain herself among the foremost 
nations of the earth. All that she requires is the 
union of her own people, and happily they never were 
at any former period so united and harmonious as now. 
A homogeneous people, with our social and industrial 
institutions the same everywhere, and all our great 
interests identical, we should always have been united 
in our moral and political opinions and policy. The 
ambitious dissensions of the host of brilliant men 
whose names adorn our annals, have heretofore kept 
us apart. The abolitionists have, at length, forced 
upon us a knowledge of our true position, and com- 
pelled us into union — an union not for aggression, but 
for defence ; purely conservative of the Constitution 
and the constitutional rights of every section and of 
every man. The union of these States, from the 
Canadas to the Eio Grande, and from shore to shore 
of the two great oceans of the globe, whatever splendor 
may encircle it, is but a policy and not a principle. 
It is subordinate to rights and interests. But the 
union of the slaveholders of the South is a principle 
involving all our rights and all our interests. Let that 
union be perfect and perpetual. It constitutes our 
strength, our safety and prosperity. Let us frown 



357 

down every proposition tliat miglit seriously divide 
us, and present to our assailants from every quarter a 
solid and impregnable phalanx. Let us also give to 
the winds every thought of fear, every feeling of des- 
pondency, and fully comprehending, and temperately 
but resolutely asserting our great power in this confed- 
eracy and throughout the world, let us develop and 
consolidate our resources, and devote ourselves man- 
fully and hopefully to the accomplishment of the 
magnificent future that is within our reach. 



SPEECH 

ON THE RELATIONS OF THE STATES, DELIVERED IN ,THE SENATE ;OF 
THE UNITED STATES, MAY 21, 1860. 

The Senate having under consideration the resolu- 
tions submitted by Mr. Davis on the 1st of March, rel- 
ative to the relations of the States, and the rights of 
persons and property in the Territories, and the duty 
of protecting slave property in the Territories, when a 
necessity for so doing shall exist— Mr. Hammond said : 

Mk. President : I feel reluctant to trespass on the 
time of the Senate, and to follow up with a dry con- 
stitutional ai'gument the able, eloquent, and stirring 
speech of the Senator from Georgia ; but I have a few 
words to say, and may as well go on this afternoon. 

If I understand it aright, the precise question be- 
fore the Senate is simply this: Have the territorial 
governments established by Congress, the power to 
define and declare what shall be and what shall not 
be property within the territorial boundaries ? Those 
who advocate the resolution offered by the Senator 
from Mississippi, deny that the Territories have such 
power. Those who oppose the resolutions maintain 
that they have. Both parties will agree, of course, that 
the power to define and declare what is property is su- 



359 

preme, and uncontrollable ; in short, what Ave call sove- 
reign. Certainly no other power can do it; since, in 
that case, the really supreme power could at once re- 
verse any such declaration, and without a proper defin- 
ition of property agreed upon by the controlling power 
of a Government, there could be no civil Government 
at all ; for civilized government, however far it may 
reach, is organized property, and never has existed, 
and never can exist long without defining by law or 
established usage what is property. 

We have no history of the origin of human associ- 
ation and political govei'nment that affords us any full 
or clear account. The Bible and other ancient books 
give us hints, which suggest thoughts, that enable us 
to form such conceptions of these matters, which are, 
perhaps, suflicient for all our practical purposes. A 
roving family, grown into a tribe, finding pleasant 
waters, fine soil, and sweet air, that have not been ap- 
propriated, arrests its wanderings, drives down its 
stakes, claims this delightful region as its own, consti- 
tutes it property, and, dividing it out, organizes a gov- 
ernment, and, by the right of eminent domain, of usage, 
and its physical power, establishes a sovereignty. That 
sovereignty is good so long as it can be maintained 
against all assaults. If it sustains itself, in time it 
grows great ; it becomes over-populous ; it sends out 
emissaries to discover other similarly-endowed lands ; 
it obtains them by first discovery, by purchase, or 
by conquest ; it colonizes them with its surplus pop- 
ulation, but, holding the eminent domain, it holds its 
colonies in strict subordination to its own will, and 
maintains sovereignty over them. The colonies also 
grow. In time they demand sovereignty for themselves. 



360 

It is wisely conceded, or by a successful rebellion, it is 
conquered by the colonies, and each becomes sove- 
reio-n. Sucli, I take it, lias been the almost unvarying 
history of the origin and progress of human association 
and political organization. 

Thus the thirteen colonies, which became the United 
States of America in 1Y87, were planted long previ- 
ously by Great Britain. In 1776, they severally pro- 
claimed themselves to be sovereign and independent 
States. Great Britain refused to concede to their de- 
mands ; but after a long and bloody war, they achieved 
their independence, and were acknowledged as sove- 
reign States. 

When the present constitutional Union was estab- 
lished, many States were entitled, by charters and 
grants from the former mother country, to large areas 
of territory still wild and unpeo|)led. These they all 
surrendered to the new General Government, for the 
purpose, mainly, of creating a fund to pay off the war 
debt of the Revolution. Subsequently we have ac- 
quired by purchase, Louisiana and Florida ; by annexa- 
tion, Texas ; and by conquest and purchase our Pacific 
coast. To every one of these large acquisitions, every 
iuch of which, Texas excepted, became the common 
property of each and all of the States — of whom the 
General Government was the trustee — large numbers 
of our citizens flocked, seeking to better their fortunes, 
not only unrestrained, but very rightly encoui'aged, 
by this Government. By the Constitution of the 
United States, Congress was empowered " to dispose 
of and make all needful rules and regulations respect- 
ing the territory and other property of the United 
States." This was a very vague and indefinite grant 



361 

of power ; but it was, by unanimous consent, construed 
to mean that Congress might establish a suitable pro- 
visional government for each Territory as soon as the 
number of inhabitants required that law and order 
should be enforced, and the property of the United 
States, as well as peace and justice, preserved there, 
by the intervention of the Federal Government. It 
was considered a "needful regulation," and nothing 
more. 

Yet these adventurers, few or more, squatting on 
land they do not own, but which belongs to all the 
States, and of which they do not squat on more than a 
small portion within the limits assigned them, are those 
into whose hands the opponents of these resolutions 
demand that sovereignty throughout their whole bor- 
der shall be surrendered. Why, they are but volun- 
tary exiles who have been allowed to seek homes in a 
wilderness not discovered, purchased, or conquered by 
them, but still the property of the States, whereon 
these tenants by sufferance, in their yet unfinished term 
of social infancy and political pupilage, the great agent 
of the States has kindly undertaken to protect ; giving 
them judges, Governors, and a sort of Legislature — 
all subject, however, to be withdrawn at any moment 
— and the whole system supported from the Treasury 
of the States. Yet it is said that such Territories are 
sovereignties, and such people sovereigns, and that 
such an organization can assume the high and sove- 
reign function of defining and declaring what is and 
what is not property, and thereby forbid a large pro- 
portion of the citizens of the States, who really own 
the lands, from entering such Territories with their 
rightful property. 



362 

It is said here, by tliose who advocate this extra- 
ordinary doctrine, that adventurers going, for instance, 
to Pike's Peak, Nevada, or Arizona, and organizing 
for themselves provisional 'governments, without recog- 
nition from this government, would not be entitled to 
the rights of sovereigns. To this the Senator from 
Mississippi (Mr. Davis) very pointedly and justly an- 
swered, that perhaps they were the very people who, 
from the absolute necessity of the case, would be justi- 
fied in exercising, for a time, sovereign power. And I 
will add, that if they could sustain themselves in their 
organization against all attacks, they would become 
permanently and rightfully sovereign. But that gangs 
of adventurers, intruding into a domain that belongs 
to others, squatting on its choicest lands, and when 
increased to such numbers that they can no longer 
keep the peace among themselves, petitioning then to 
the agent of the true owners of the soil, and receiving, 
at the owners' charge and cost, ample protection, should 
immediately thereafter proceed to exercise the high 
and supreme sovereign light of deciding what is and 
what is not property on that domain, and exercise it in 
a way to exclude the people of nearly half the States 
from their own Territory, is as monstrous as it is absurd. 
It is a proposition not merely anomalous in every fea- 
ture, not only unknown to history, but utterly opposed 
to truth, to reason, to justice, to honor, and to common 
honesty. It is called " squatter sovereignty." The name 
describes it. It can never achieve a more respectable 
designation. 

I have endeavored to show, rather by statement 
than by argument, that our territorial organizations — 
called governments by courtesy, but which really are 



363 

only corporations, that may be dissolved at the will 
of the Federal Government — cannot declare what is 
property in the Territories, and are not sovereign. It 
is said, nevertheless, that they are sovereign, because 
of a certain natural and inherent right of anj popula- 
tion organized under any form of government to regu- 
late their own affairs. Nothing could be more vague, 
uncertain, metaphysical, and shadowy, than such a 
proposition as this. If any man has any natural or 
inherent rights — which I deny — regarding all the 
rights to which a being born so helpless as man, 
may attain, to be purely conventional, and such as 
other men allow him — I should suppose that those 
rights belong to him as an individual, rather than as a 
member of any social or political system. It seems to 
me clear that we must be born with whatever is natu- 
ral or inherent to us, and that we can receive no acces- 
sion of rights of that character from any social or polit- 
ical organization ; but that, on the contrary, such 
rights, whatever they may be, must be in no small de- 
gree restrained and diminished by any organization 
formed for the good of the whole. Such, in fact, is 
the case. Individual rights — no individual pretensions, 
passions, and desires, mistaken for rights — are just 
what governments are instituted to control and regu- 
late. But if any such natural or inherent rights could 
possibly exist, they are conceded when the settler on 
the public domain, asking the protection of this Gov- 
ernment, agrees to be governed by such an organic law 
as Congress may offer him — which he does for the sub- 
stantial consideration of protection. If he, hj himself, 
or in conjunction with his fellow-settlers, had any such 
rights, they are entirely surrendered when they come 



364 

under the Constitution and the laws of this Confedera- 
tion. Their immediate local governments have no 
other foundation than the vague power of Congress to 
make " needful rules and regulations ; " that such a pop- 
ulation should set itself up as a sovereign people and 
such a corporation claim to exercise any sovereign 
power, especially the great central sovereign power of 
declaring wdiat is property, is, I repeat it, with due 
deference, simply absurd, and would, I think, be agreed 
to by no human being of ordinary intelligence who 
was not misled by his passions, prejudices, or interests. 
Why, the Federal Government itself, save in one or 
two instances where the power has been specifically 
conferred on it, cannot declare what is or what is not 
property. That is a power reserved by the sovereign 
States, and by them alone can it be exercised ; and it 
is by this reservation that they prove their sovereignty. 
What each State declares to be property, the General 
Government is bound, in all its dej^artments, to regard 
as property, and protect as property ; and so under the 
Constitution, every other State is bound to regard and 
protect it; and each and every State has a right to de- 
mand that, whatever it has, by its sovereign fiat, de- 
clared to be property, shall most fully be recognized 
and protected as such on the Territorial soil of which 
it is part owner. 

But another great powder has been granted to Con- 
gress which bears directly on this question. Though 
it can only make " needful rules and regulations for 
the territory," <fec., — you will note that the word is 
"territory," not territories — showing that the whole 
scope of the grant of power was to regulate property 
only — yet this Government, not sovereign itself, can, 



365 

as it were, create a sovereign, by the expressly and 
constitutionally recorded will of the sovereign States. 
It is autliorized to " admit new States." All " States " 
are sovereign. They can. define and establish property, 
and your Territories, when they are admitted as States, 
may do it also. In this we all agree. And it seems to 
me very strange that the Territories, when a few short 
years will enable them to attain the high position of 
sovereign States in this Confederation, should wish to 
snatch at sovereignty before their time. It was not so 
of old. It can only be explained by referring to the 
progress of demagogueism in these degenerate days 
of the Republic, and to the insane desire to destroy 
one section of this Union. But this is beside the ar- 
gument. 

If the fraraers of the Constitution had supposed 
that in granting the power to the General Govern- 
ment "to dispose of, and make needful rules and 
regulations, resj^ectiug the territory and other proj^erty 
of the United States," they conferred the power to 
establish in such Territory political governments, en- 
dowed with the sovereign power to define what is and 
what is not property, then they would have stultified 
themselves by the additional grant of power to " admit 
new States." The Territories would be States at once, 
and with, perhaps, great advantage over the other 
States. The power " to make needful rules," <fec., has 
from the first been stretched so far as to authorize 
each Territory to send a Delegate to the House of 
Representatives. What obstacle is there then, but 
the mere will of Congress, to a Territory sending one 
also to the Senate — nay, two — and to the House as 
many as the different political and other interests of 



366 

the different sections of tlie Territory might be sup- 
posed to require ? Thus it would have ample oppor- 
tunity to attend to all its wants here, and share in all 
the honors of the Government except the very highest, 
while its government, in all its branches, would be 
carried on at the cost of the General Government, and 
its people would be protected by the arms of the 
United States. More than this: as the Federal Con- 
stitution does not authorize Congress to define property, 
if the definition given to it by each sovereign State is 
not to prevail in the Territories, then, if they can 
exclude or confiscate one kind of property, they can 
exclude or confiscate any kind of property. Thus the 
coal and iron of Pennsylvania, the cotton and woolen 
manufactures of New England, the grain and provisions 
of the Northwest, in short, the staples and manuftic- 
tures, and even shipping of every section, might be 
declared not to be property in a Territory, and as the 
major includes the minor proposition, might be con- 
fiscated or heavily taxed. And if it be agreed that 
the Territories shall not be bound to consider as 
property what the sovereign States, or any one of them, 
declares to be propei'ty, then much less will the States 
themselves be bound to respect it ; and that agreed 
on, this "more perfect Union" of these States will 
subside into a condition not at all better than that of 
the old Confederacy, if, in fact, half so good. 

I will not pursue the subject farther. The Senate 
is weary of it, the country is weary of it, and I, myself, 
am so weary of it that I have not listened or read, 
when it was the topic, for months. I have presented 
it now briefly, and in only one point of view; and 
even that I do not fully carry out. I have said enough. 



367 

and probably nothing not familiar to every one who 
has heard all that has been said here, which I have 
not. In every aspect of this new doctrine — and there 
are many I have not touched — it has appeared to me 
an illegitimate and dangerous excrescence on our re- 
publican system — the offspring of an unsound, morbid, 
and licentious spirit of mobocracy, well calculated, in 
fact, if successfully persisted in, sure — to destroy the 
genuine spirit of our political institutions — nay, to 
destroy the confederacy. 

It was not my intention to have intruded upon the 
Senate any remarks upon the subject ; but the Senator 
from Illinois, in his speech the other day, made some 
allusion to my State which I thought should be cor- 
rected. He asked not to be interrupted, and after- 
wards promised to make the correction in the report 
of his speech. I do not doubt that he has done so; 
but what he said has gone forth from the reporters, 
and cannot be fully corrected by any omission from 
his speech. On this account I felt bound to make the 
corrections myself; and could not refrain from saying 
somethinsfmore. 

When South Carolina voted for General Cass, in 
1848, after his celebrated letter to Judge Nicholson, 
she put upon that letter the interpretation then uni- 
versal in the South ; she assumed him to mean, in 
what he said, that a Territory, when it came to frame 
a constitution, and ask admission as a State, might 
declare what should be property within its limits. 
South Carolina did not intend by her vote to sustain 
squatter sovereignty. 

The compromise measures of ITGO, which the 
Senator says contained this doctrine, had not a friend, 



368 ''"'." ifZ 

^^ 
so f^ir as I know, in South Carolina. The proposition 

was that the State should secede in consequence of 
these very measures. The issue only made was 
whether the State shouhl secede alone, or refuse to 
do so without the cooperation of one or more other 
States. Mr. Khett, who took his seat in the Senate 
some months after the passage of those measures, led 
the party in fiivor of a separate secession of the State. 
He was defeated. Not by those in favor of the com- 
promise act or of squatter sovereignty, which never 
had the slightest foothold in South Carolina, but by 
the cooperatiouists, who would not go out of the 
Union without some other State approving and sus- 
taining. 

The Kansas and Nebraska act, of which the Senator 
claims to be the author, and I believe was, met the 
approbation of South Carolina ; but it was interpreted 
in the same way with the Nicholson letter. So far, 
therefore, as South Carolina has acted, she has not 
done the least thing to support these new doctrines in 
regard to sovereignty ; and I think I can assure the 
Senator from Illinois she never will. 



